My new school
by Angie-mia
Summary: Can she survive this year? In the new high school that she attended, what will happen to her? Music, video games, high school, love issues, friends...How these things will keep a place in her life? NejiTen with some minor pairings. Dead fic, sorry.
1. The First Day

**Okay everyone. So this is my first story in here. I'm excited as hell! Whee! Ahem...**

**I really, really hope that you'll like this story. It's only the first chappie, more will come whether there are reviews or not.**

**I'm _so_ sorry if there's any grammar mistakes. English is not my mother tongue and I can barely learn English at school. I mean, we learn things like "Hi. My name is blah blah. I'm from Turkey. Nice to meet you." And I thought I could improve my English here. So if you find _any _grammar mistakes, please let me know it. Thanks!**

**Since this is my first story on internet (oh dude, I really am excited!) don't flame me ^_^ If you're gonna flame, not so harsh please. :3 **

_Oh god…_ I thought. This was gonna be one hell of a day. You ask why? Because this'll be my first day at my new school, Konoha High School. Yeah, cliché enough, I know, I know. Like I wanted to attend this school… Everything's gonna be new. Ugh…

So anyway, let me start by telling my name. My name is Tenten and I'm 17. I was living with my adoptive parents but they sent me to Konoha for a better education. They had to stay in Whirlpool because of their job. So, I'll start to live alone starting today. God help me…

Enough with the chatter. Where was I? Ah, yes. I was thinking about the first day. I got out of the taxi after I paid for the ride. When I turned my head, for a second, I couldn't realize where I was. I expected a big school, yes, but this… was huge! What I mean by that is… You know… HUGE! You get the idea.

I felt uncomfortable. With a school this big, I sure was gonna get lost. And I knew no one. I took a deep breath before going through the gate. I made my way to the principal's office. The secretary was busy with signing some papers. I waited but she didn't seem to notice me, or she didn't care. I fake coughed and she finally looked at me. A bright smile appeared on her face.

"Oh my! I'm sorry! I was busy with some paperwork you see. So, are you a new student?"

"Yes…" I said.

"Can I have your name?" She asked, looking back at the computer's screen.

"Tenten."

She waited for me to say more, I didn't talk. She raised an eyebrow. "That's all? No surname?"

"Nope." I answered. She shrugged. "By the way, I'm Shizune."

"Nice to meet you." I said politely. She smiled, and then typed my name.

"Okay, I found you on the list. You can go in to talk with Tsunade-sama."

Nodding, I got in the room she showed me. Behind the table, there was a gorgeous woman sitting. She had hazel eyes, blonde hair with pigtails. She was beautiful but I got the feeling that she was _really_ strong. Like she could kill someone only with her stare. Oh, I liked her already!

Like Shizune, she was busy with a pile of paperwork. But this time, I didn't need to fake a cough. She pointed her finger at me and said, "Wait a little."

So I waited. Since I had nothing better to do, I watched her. Then, she finished whatever she was doing and lifted her head. She looked at me for a second.

"Are you new?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm Tenten; I came here from Whirlpool country."

"Oh I know." she said. "Your parents called me this morning. I'm Tsunade, the principal of this school. If you want to get along with me, you'd better do what I say." she added with a threatening tone. I gulped.

"Hai."

"Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"Yes." I answered. "My parents rented a cheap flat for me. It's close too, so it's no problem."

"That's good. What about your uniform? Do you have it?"

"I haven't bought it yet. But I was thinking of getting it today."

"Hmm, okay but you'll be excused _just_ for today. I'll make no exceptions."

"O-okay." Wow, this woman was overflowing with some scary power. But then, she surprised me and made a smile.

"Well then, welcome to our school." I smiled too as I bowed my head.

"Thank you."

"Shizune will give you your schedule. Don't forget to take it."

"Alright." I said and got out of the room. I went to take the schedule from Shizune, who was still busy with papers but she noticed me right away this time.

"Hi again, Tenten. Here's your schedule. And you might need this." she said, giving me two papers. One of them was my schedule and the other was a map of the school. Oh gee, this school was _that_ big? Thank god I got a scholarship. Or else I don't know how the heck my parents would pay for it.

I thanked Shizune and went to the garden to check out my program. I couldn't help but feel a little awkward, after all I was the newbie around here. I thought everyone was staring at me. I was especially getting attention because I didn't wear the uniform. I was wearing deep blue jeans with white sneakers and a baggy t-shirt. Anyway, I found a bench to sit on and checked my papers. My first lesson was Homeroom. When the bell rang, I headed towards the classroom which was written on the paper. I could find my way thanks to the map. Or else I would've got lost. School was _that_ huge.

I opened classroom door and looked around. Everyone was talking, making paper airplanes etc. I found an empty seat between a pink haired gal and a blonde boy. The pinkette turned her head towards me and smiled.

"I guess you're new?"

"Yeah, unfortunately. It sucks to be alone in such a big school, you know?" I complained, resting my head on my hands, putting my elbows on the desk.

"You're right! I felt that way too, when I first got here. But you get used to it easily. What's your name by the way?" She was talking with me in such a friendly manner that I immediately liked her.

"Tenten. What's your's?"

"Sakura Haruno."

"Nice to meet you, then."

Just as we were talking, the blonde boy sitting next to me cut in. "And I'm Naruto! Nice to meet you dattebayo!"

I chuckled as Sakura rolled her eyes. "Naruto is a noisy one, so be careful. You might get pretty angry towards him sometimes."

"That's okay." I said. "I can handle crazy friends."

"Then you must be crazy too."

"Maybe I am." I said, giving her a fake crazy look. She sweatdropped.

"So, Tenten-chan, where are you from?" Naruto asked.

"Whirlpool country."

"Really? Why did you come, then?" Sakura asked.

"Because my parents wanted me to have a better education so they sent me here." I answered.

"Then they must be rich!"

I giggled. "No, I got a scholarship. I couldn't get it if it weren't for them."

"Nice." Sakura said. She was about to say more when the teacher came in. He had gray hair and he was wearing… a mask? What the..? Why the heck was he wearing a mask? Not to mention his left eye was patched.

While I was having a shock there, the teacher sat down. Sakura turned to me and whispered. "This is Kakashi-sensei. He's a great teacher but he's so mysterious."

"Why the heck is he wearing a mask?" I asked what was I thinking a minute ago. "And why is there a patch on his eye?"

"No one knows." Sakura answered in a mysterious tone. I rolled my eyes and looked at the teacher. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a book. He started to read it. When I took a closer look, I saw that it was "Icha Icha Paradise". Dude, again, what the heck?

Sakura must've seen my look and whispered again. "He always reads that."

"…What a pervert."

"Yeah." Sakura agreed. "But it doesn't change the fact that he's a great teacher."

"Hmm, maybe." I said.

After the class, Sakura and I headed for the garden to meet her friends (well, she forced me). Actually, I was happy to make friends at the first day,_ first hour._ Yep, that's pretty awesome.

Sakura greeted two girls in the garden. One of them had blue eyes with blonde hair. And she was about my age, like the other girl. The other one had very dark purple hair and… what the fuck, pupil-less eyes? This school was weird. As I was thinking this, Sakura introduced me to her friends.

"Guys, this is Tenten. She came from Whirlpool country and she'll be around here. So Tenten, this lavender eyed girl is Hinata Hyuuga."

"Hello, Tenten-san." she greeted shyly. I bowed my head.

"Nice to meet you."

"And this is Ino Yamanaka." Sakura pointed the blonde. She offered her hand to me.

"Welcome to our school." she said, fully smiling. I shook her hand and thanked. These people were so friendly. I liked them already. Maybe, just maybe school won't be so bad. I wanted to believe that…

**I hope you liked it! I'd love it if you leave some reviews. This story will be updated every weekend. (or, I'll try to update :3)**


	2. The Meeting

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**Haha, I realized that I said too much "Thank you". :D Anyway, I talked too much. Enjoy!**

Whew… I can't believe I made through it! My first day at school has ended! It wasn't that boring and I made new friends. Sakura is nice but I think she's a little bit short-tempered. Especially with Naruto *sweatdrop* Ino is the beauty queen. She has all sorts of perfumes, all kinds of eyeliners and lipsticks in all colors. God, is she insane? Who would spend so much money on make-ups? She's the exact opposite of me. But even though she wears so much make-up and acts all girly, I get along with her. Sakura and Ino are much alike but Ino is a _little bit _fancier (yeah, right). Hinata is a shy, sweet girl who doesn't talk much. She has the weirdest eyes I've ever seen. They're lavender but they have no pupils. But somehow, she looks so cute with those eyes. I mean it! If I had those eyes, I'd be looking so strange. Life's not fair…

Anyways, I walked all the way to the apartment building that I was going to live from now on. It was close to the school, so no problem with that. The real problem emerged when I got to the main gate of the building. I searched for my keys but I couldn't find them! I was so sure that my father gave them to me before coming here. So, where were they?

As I kept searching for them, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around in a fury and faced with Hinata's eyes. Wait… That was not her eyes. The rest of the body was obviously not her. It was a boy about my age who had long brown hair in a very loose ponytail. He had Hinata's eyes. Lavender and pupil-less…

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened a little as I pointed my finger at him.

"Wait a minute… You're… him?"

I have to go back to what happened in school for you to understand.

_Flashback_

"_Haha, no way!" Sakura said, laughing. We were walking in the corridor. "Did he really say that?"_

"_Yeah!" Ino giggled. "You should've seen his face when I turned him down. He looked like a hurt puppy and I felt sorry for him. But sorry, I can't date with guys that I don't love. I mean, I don't even know him." She added._

_We all nodded. Right then, I wasn't paying attention what was happening around me, so I ended up colliding into someone._

"_Watch where you're going."_

_I lifted my head up, mumbling sorry. The handsome guy with the weird eyes stared at me. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what was he gonna do._

_To my surprise, he only shrugged. Then he turned his head towards the girls standing behind me. He saluted as Hinata said: "Hello, Neji-nii-san*."_

_Wait… she knew him? Nii-san? Then I made the connection. He was related to Hinata in some way. It was a strong possibility that they were siblings._

_The mysterious (!) guy walked away, ignoring the fangirls' screaming as I stared behind him. He was an arrogant bastard for sure. He didn't even say anything to me!_

_I looked at Hinata, waiting for an explanation. She sighed._

"_That was my cousin, Neji." she said._

"_Cousin? Hmm, that makes sense." I said. "But how come an ice cube like him can be related to someone so sweet?" Hinata blushed at my compliment. _

"_T-thank you. But don't prejudge him. He's a nice person actually."_

"_Really?" I asked. "He didn't even say anything!"_

"_Yeah, but that's because he doesn't talk much." Sakura informed._

"_The only girl he ever talks to is Hinata." Ino said. "And sometimes, us."_

"_Maybe he's just ashamed to talk with girls?" I inquired._

_They all broke into laughter on this question of mine. "Tenten, haha, you're, haha, funny!" Ino managed to say between her laughs._

"_Didn't you see his fangirls?" Sakura asked, wiping her tears as she tried to stop laughing. "He can get any girl he wants!"_

"_Oh come on!" I said, unbelievably. "You're just exaggerating. He's not that popular… is he?"_

"_You bet he is!" Sakura said. _

"_Not only he's handsome, he's a genius too!" Ino added. "There's only one student in this school that is smarter than him and that's Shikamaru."_

"_Holy…"_

_Flashback ends_

I was still staring at him, my finger still pointing at him. When he opened his mouth to say something, I cut him off: "Did you follow me?"

He gave me a dull look and said: "Can you get out of the way? I can't get in."

Okay, I must admit that his voice was so… deep. But at the same time he sounded bored and annoyed so it lost its charm.

I didn't get out of the way, instead, "Do you live here?" I asked, surprised. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Why?"

"What do you mean why?" I asked, almost furiously. "One of the most popular guys in my school lives in an apartment building? Especially, _where I live?_ That must be a stupid nightmare."

The boy seemed annoyed by my speech. "Why would it be a nightmare?"

"Oh, I saw that you have countless fangirls. What if they come to here? I can't stand idiot girls screaming 'I love you Neji Hyuuga!' in front of my house." I said, rolling my eyes.

"First," Hyuuga said. "they don't come here. So you can relax. Second, how do you know my name?"

"Oh wow," I laughed. "I heard you were a genius but didn't know you had amnesia. We bumped into each other in the hallway, remember?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Hinata was with me too, right? Your cousin? The shy one who saluted you? Sounds familiar?"

"…Oh."

I tried hard to not to laugh. He must've noticed my attempt and frowned. "Are you going to get in?"

Then I remembered what I was doing. "Oh right." I mumbled as I started to search my pockets for my keys… again…

He waited for a while but then he lost his patience and stepped forward. He took out his key and opened the main door. To my surprise, he kept the door open for me. I went through and smirked.

"So, you're a gentleman too. The perfect guy you are."

He ignored me and called the elevator. I continued smirking until I realized something. I got in the building, yeah… But what about my flat?

"Shit…" I mumbled in a very low voice. "What am I gonna do?"

"About what?" Hyuuga asked.

"My flat… How am I gonna get in?"

He thought for a second. "Call a locksmith?"

"Hmm, that might be a good idea." By that time the elevator came and we get in. He pressed the fourth floor.

…

Fourth?

Haha, this guy sure was unlucky! He was living in the floor under mine. I lived in fifth. Oooh, this was gonna be so much fun!

But right now wasn't the time to think about this. I had to call the locksmith but God knew when he was going to come. Still, I called him. By the time, we came on the fourth floor and started waiting in front of Hyuuga's door. He said he could come over in about an hour because he was on work.

The Hyuuga looked at me for a second, pondering. Then, he let out a sigh. "Would you like to come and wait in my flat until the locksmith arrives?"

My eyes widened at this offer. I didn't see that coming. "A-alright…"

I swear I saw him smirking. But it was so sudden.

Anyway, he opened his flat door and we got in. I expected something… well, fancy considering his family (I heard from Sakura that they were rich). But his flat was nothing near fancy, it was so simple.

"So, is this where _the _Neji Hyuuga lives?"

"Yeah, I know it's simple but I'm sick of showy things. Which is why I moved out by the way."

"Hmm, you're right. I don't like showy things either. But it surprised me that you're different from the rest of the other popular guys."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Will you please stop calling me popular? It's so irritating!"

"Ooh, so Hyuuga can get mad too! I thought you were kinda emotionless."

Hyuuga narrowed his eyes and glared at me. I know, I know. I was getting on his nerves but it was so fun!

-x-

"I'm bored…" I grumbled while watching a sucky program on TV. Yeah, we didn't have anything better to do. Neji was the quiet type and he wouldn't talk, so we decided to watch some TV while waiting.

"I know." he said, sounding bored too.

"I'm hungry."

"So what?"

"So, get me some food."

"Fine."

He got up and brought me... chocolate? OMG, white chocolate! My favorite!

"YAY! It's my favorite!" I got up, feeling full with energy. "You're the best! Wait, I get it back. Because I'm the best! But thank you sooo much!"

I grabbed the chocolate from him and started to eat it. Yum, I love chocolate!

The stoic bastard just stood there, watching my intense eating. Just as when I finished, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw that it was the locksmith.

"Okay, I'm coming!" I said to him, after he said that he arrived. I took my backpack as I turned my head towards Neji.

"C'ya later Hyuuga!"

Not waiting for his response, I rushed out. I climbed the stairs to fifth floor and stood in front of my house. The locksmith was already there. He was a likable, dark-skinned, very tall guy with round hazel eyes.

He smiled at me sympathetically while saying: "Make sure you don't forget your keys again."

"Yeah, it can be a pain in the ass."

"On the second thought, you can forget them. It makes more money to me."

I smiled as he opened my door. He went to another house after I thanked him and paid.

I threw myself on the sofa. My house had already been furnished. It was simple because we couldn't afford more. Well, that was enough for me. I had my Playstation, my computer etc. And those were enough for me.

When I was about to sleep on the sofa, I remembered something. _Oh my god…_ MY PENCIL CASE!

I immediately got up and hurried to my bag. I took out my pencil case and opened it.

"Why the heck I put my keys here?" I almost yelled with frustration along with a little relief. Then I remembered Neji.

"Oops… Better not to tell him." I giggled myself. God know what he'd do if he heard my keys were in my pencil case after I annoyed him so much.

**Alright, that's it for now. Next weekend there will be no chapter because I won't be here. I'll be in Europe for the week! YAY! We're in a national holiday so we're benefiting it. XD I'll write as soon as I can but the week after, I'll have three-freakin-hard-exams! So, see ya two weeks later! I love you all!**


	3. Ready to Rock

**Um... uh... Hi gaiz :B**

**I feel guilty for not updating this weekend. I'm so sorry! But I was having some kind of an writer's block (it's what it's called, right? :3) thus this ridiculous chapter. Sorry... *sniffle***

**Thank you so much for the reviews, you can't imagine how important they are to me. Thankies!**

**DarkAnonymous324: Thank you :)**

...

**bright-rebellious: Yeah, Tenten can be so oblivious sometimes. -.- But I, too, have done it. That's how it came to my mind :D **

**yeah, Tenten is awesome indeed. (Tenten: I sure am! NG: Oh shaddup). **

**Chocolate! FFFF-!**

**...**

**Metal-Blondie: Yeah, Europe was _so_ cool! You are lucky to live there! ****We went to Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary. It was awesome sauce! :D**

**Thank you sooooo much for taking your time and pointing out those mistakes! I'll fix them right away! I get them all, such stupid mistakes I made... If you see more (I'm sure you'll see a lot), please tell them (if you wanna :3)**

**Lol, it's epic fail! XD But it's known that chocolate worths everything. Even spending an hour with a stoic prodigy. (lol!)**

**Thank you so much! **

...

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: No matter how much I want it to be, it's no use. I don't own Naruto and other stuff I'll rant about.**

_Beep beep… beep beep…_

Oh the damned clock! Its beeping was so annoying. Why did they have to make it irritating? I mean, wouldn't it be better if they made it a sweet, nice tune? But I guess it'd make me sleepier. Hehe, anyway…

Two days had passed since my first day, so it was Wednesday now. I think I was doing pretty well. I was getting along with my new friends, successfully annoying the Hyuuga… The only thing that was missing was my guitar (yeah, I play the guitar, so what?). My dad said he'd send it to me as soon as he could, but still I wanted to play my guitar. Or else, I would've got worse and couldn't have played in any band. I wanted to play in a band. Oh well, I think I have to wait just a little longer.

I got out from my warm bed while complaining. I washed my face, prepared a cup of coffee in order to wake up properly. Then I changed to my school uniform. I didn't like school uniforms. Because it makes you same with everyone, like you don't have a personality. _Everyone_ becomes same! And it sucks. I want to wear my own clothes…

After my breakfast, I went out. I realized that the elevator was busy, so I used the stairs. I saw the Hyuuga coming out of his house.

"Morning, Hyuuga." He looked up to see me.

"Good morning, Tenten." he said. "You didn't forget your keys this time, did you?" he asked teasingly.

I narrowed my eyes. Yeah, I love to annoy him but I hate it when he annoys me. "No, I didn't. You have to ask it every time you get the chance, right?" Really, when I see him at the school, in the apartment, wherever I see him, he asks me this. Well, he kinda learned that my key was with me all that time. (Thanks to Ino and Sakura. I told my funny little story yesterday. Then they talked about it in lunch and Neji was with us… Heh…)

He raised his hand innocently. "I'm only making sure that you won't have to call the locksmith again."

"So considerate you are. Now c'mon, are we going or not?"

He smirked and followed me down the stairs. As we were heading to the school, I decided to ask him something.

"Ne, Neji?"

"Hn?"

"Does this school have any bands or something like that?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

I raised an eyebrow too, mimicking him. " 'Why?' To play in it, of course! What else?"

"There are plenty." he said, letting out an irritated sigh. "I am playing in a band too."

"Really?" I asked. It was so weird thinking him 'rocking' on the stage.

"Yeah. Something wrong with that?"

"No, not really. I was thinking about your fangirls, you know."

"That again?" he asked, frustrated. "Look, it's not like I wanted to have fangirls. I don't even know why do they exist but I don't care."

I stared at him. "Dude, you're so dense." Not waiting for his reaction, I continued. "Which instrument do you play?"

"Bass guitar."

Wow, this guy was full of surprises more than I expected. "Awesome! Who plays what?"

"Well, our lead guitarist and soloist is Naruto. I play the bass, Sakura plays the keyboard-"

"What, she plays keyboard?"

"Isn't that what I said? It shouldn't be very surprising. You're not the only one who can play an instrument." he said bluntly.

"Oh… but that's not what I meant-"

"And Sasuke plays the drums." he cut me.

"I see…" I said, disappointed. "So no empty place for me, eh?"

This piqued his interest. "You wanted to join?"

"Well, yeah." I said, disappointed.

"What do you play?"

"Electro guitar. But it seems I can't play in your group. I guess I have to try another band."

"I guess…" he said, thinking. After walking a little more, we have reached the school.

"So, what's your first lesson today?" I asked him, while going through the main gate.

"Biology, it seems. What's yours?"

I checked my schedule. "Literature."

"Hinata-sama has the same class with you. I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye!" I turned around then I realized what he just said. Hinata_-sama?_ I gotta ask it later.

I made my way towards the literature class as he walked away. I got in the little class and let out a relieved sigh seeing the teacher hadn't come yet. I saw Hinata-chan sitting near a window and chatting with Ino who was sitting in front of her. I waved and headed to them.

"Good morning guys!" I said cheerfully, placing my bag next to Hinata.

"Good morning Tenten-chan." Hinata greeted.

"Hey, Ten." Ino said. "How is life-with-Neji going?"

"Uh… I'm not living with him, you know." I told her. "We live only in the same apartment."

"Details don't matter!" she objected. "You walk to school and coming back with him. It is something important!"

"Not really. You're making a big deal out of this."

"Not at all!"

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No."

"Tee hee."

Dammit!

"Classy!" she said happily.

"Anyway," I cut in, feeling sulky from losing. "Do you know any school band?"

"Why?" she asked.

"Guys, seriously! What's with this school? I wanna play in a band, that's why!"

"Okay, okay… Don't be so mad. Geez."

"Actually," Hinata said. "There are some nice groups. But I suggest you to try Neji-nii-san's band. Sakura-chan is in it too."

"I know. But there aren't any empty place for me."

"I see… I think you should talk to Sakura anyway. She could let you join. Also N-Naruto-kun was saying it was hard to play the guitar and sing at the same time."

Ooh, I spotted a stutter there! Hmm, I wonder why? Well, it's obvious! She likes him! Yes that must be it!

"Okay, Hina-chan. I'll talk to Sakura and 'N-Naruto-kun' today." I winked at her. Getting the message, she blushed.

"Tenten-chan!"

I giggled to myself as the teacher came in. It was a beautiful woman with… red eyes… Seriously, what the hell with people's eyes? First the Hyuugas and now this. Strange…

"Good morning class." she greeted.

"This is Kurenai sensei." Hinata whispered to me. "She's a great teacher, I understand every word she says."

"I hope I'll understand too, I lack skills of literature." I said desperately.

Hinata just giggled as Kurenai-sensei warned the kids to be quiet and started the lesson."

-x-

"History was so boring!" I whined to Hinata. "I hate history."

We were on our way to the refectory. First four periods have passed and it was lunchtime. My favorite time at school!

"I realized that." Hinata giggled. "You were sketching ridiculous faces on your notebook."

"Yeah, I didn't have anything else to do."

Just as Hinata was about to say something, someone called out to us. "Hinata! Tenten!"

We turned our heads in that direction and saw it was Sakura. She was sitting with Ino, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Sasuke and Neji.

I met with the rest of the group yesterday at lunch. Shikamaru was the laziest yet the smartest. I've heard of his name at my first day. Kiba was like Naruto, enthusiastic yet crazy sometimes. Sasuke was another version of Neji. He was acting all cool and he has more fangirls than Neji does. Meh…

We sat with them. Everyone was talking with each other at the same time. It was hard to follow the topic.

"_Did you see her new lenses? Blue! Blue on brown eyes! It was so bad…-" _Ino

"_I listened to A Nightmare to Remember by Dream Theater yesterday. I think they changed their style a lot." _Sasuke

"_Yeah, and I heard the drummer quitted…-" (1) _Neji

"_Oi, Naruto! Should we skip class and play Left 4 Dead?" _Kiba

"_Sure!" _Naruto

"_No skipping!"_ Sakura

"_Troublesome." _Shikamaru

I decided to join a conversation. "If you think you're good at Left 4 Dead, then try to beat me!"

I know, childish to pick. But I love that game!

Kiba whistled. "This little cat has claws."

"I don't compete with women." Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"What? Are you scared? Chicken!" I teased. Naruto glared at me (as hardest as he can. It was funny actually).

"Nobody calls me chicken!" (2)

"Then let's play!" I said with a challenging look.

"Alright! We can play it on the school's computers. We installed it before."

"Wait, wait." Sakura cut in. "Don't be crazy. Anko is the one charged of the computers. She'll kill you if she sees. You'll play later."

"Sakura-chan, you're such a spoilsport." Naruto pouted.

"I wanted to kick his ass." I murmured disappointedly. Then I remembered something. "Sakura-chan!"

It was so sudden that Sakura jumped. "What the heck, Tenten?" she asked.

"You play in Neji's band, right?" I asked, tilting my head towards her so that no one can hear us.

"Yeah, I play keyboard."

"I know. Do you think you can manage a place for me? Please?" I asked, trying to be cute as much as I could.

"But we have no-"

"Empty place, I know. Hinata-chan told me that I should ask you."

"Oh…" She narrowed her eyes, thinking. "Which instrument you play?"

"Electro guitar."

She thought a little bit more. Then said, "I'm sorry Tenten. I can't allow you to join the group without a proper selection. I can talk to Naruto and if he wants and stops playing, you might have a chance. But I should warn you, it's hard to pass through Neji and Sasuke. You should be really good. If it were only me, I would've taken you right away."

"Alright, I get it. I'll just have to wait, I guess."

"I'm sorry."

"No biggie." I smiled. She smiled too and continued eating.

-x-

The fifth period, Math, had ended. Only I and Shikamaru were in the same class and now heading for the Biology lab.

"That was boring." Shikamaru said, as he huffed.

"Oh, shut up. You have no problem in Math. You did all the problems Asuma sensei asked to you."

"That was the boring part."

"…Shut up, you wise-ass."

He rolled his eyes. "Women…"

I heard someone call my name. "Tenten! Tenten!"

"Huh?" I turned around to see Sakura's smiling face in front of me.

"I talked with Naruto." she said, trying to catch her breath. "He said you could join, he was about to stop being guitarist anyway. So, we're gonna make a selection only for you two days later at the music room."

"YAY! Sakura, I love you so much! You're amazing!"

"I know." she giggled. "I have to go now. See you!"

We watched her as she made a haste. I was so happy that I could dance in the middle of the corridor. I was gonna play in a band! Woo-hoo!

"I'm gonna play in a band! I'm gonna play in a band!" I exclaimed happy, as I shook Shikamaru, grabbing his shoulders.

"Are you always like this?" he asked when I let him go, trying to make balance.

"Pretty much."

"You haven't even selected. What's this happiness for?"

"Oh, but I'm gonna be selected. Just wait." I said, winking. He rolled his eyes and said, "Troublesome women."

**I hope you liked it. I personally don't, it's so sucky because of the writer's block . I want to ramble about many things, but I'm gonna sleep *yawn*. If you have any questions to ask, don't hesitate. And please, PLEASE review. It would make this little girl here so happy!**

**P.S: My exams sucked, they were too hard! French was the hardest of them. Literature was okay and Math was... ugh...**

**(1): Dream Theater is a group that I adore so much, so I needed to mention them. It's so sad that Mike Portnoy decided to leave. What a shame...**

**(2): Haha, this quote is from Back to The Future series. It's Marty McFly's motto. XD**

**See ya later. 3**


	4. Selection Part 1

**Sorry for the delay guys, I swear I've been writing! In fact, this is a pretty long chapter (in my opinion :D). Thank you soooo much for the reviews! I learned how to reply, so I'll do it now! (it wasn't that hard, really. I just have to click the button where it says: "Reply to Review". :'D)**

What did I tell you? Huh? I said I would be in the band. So today, I'm gonna prove it to you!

That day began pretty normal. I encountered with Hyuuga in front of the building as always. Then we walked to school, chatting. I mean, I chatted; Hyuuga mostly listened to my rant. (He's really patient, I'll give him that.) We arrived the school just in time. I rushed to Literature class. Actually, _we_ rushed. I had Literature and Geometry with Neji. So he came with me (naturally). I sat next to him in order to annoy and prevent him from listening to the teacher. Hehe…

When I sat my chair and placed the guitar I brought with me, Hyuuga asked me a question. "Are you excited?"

"…For what?" I asked, not understanding.

"I thought you were going to be in a selection today."

"Oh yeah, that. Why would I be excited? I got my guitar back; I have full faith in myself. There's no way you wouldn't let me in!" I exclaimed happily.

"You seem so sure of yourself." Neji said.

"I sure am! 'Cause I'm good."

"We'll see about that."

"You'll see." I said, grinning fully. Seriously, I don't know why I was so sure of myself but I had a pretty good feeling about this.

When the teacher came, Neji and I just shut our mouths. Remember I told you that I'd disturb Neji to prevent from listening? Yeah, that was my plan.

I ripped off a paper from my notebook. I wrote two words on it:

_Hey, Neji_

I pushed the paper towards him and poked him to realize this. He first seemed surprised, then noticed my note and trying to not showing his curiosity, he read it, sighed and wrote something on it too.

_**What?**_

I giggled.

_Nothin I jst like to distrb u. So wassup?_

_**I want to listen to the teacher.**_

_Oh I didnt knw I was sittin next to a nerd_

He sighed again.

_**Alright Tenten, I'm a nerd. Can you please leave me alone now?**_

_No why would I_

_**Because you annoy me.**_

_I know. U dont have to tell me_

I saw him rolling his eyes. He seemed to be bored of this conversation and didn't reply. But I was stubborn.

_Nejiiii_

_**What now?**_

_When is my selection going to be?_

_**You mean you don't know?**_

_If I knew I wouldnt askd it rite? Geez Neji so much for a genius_

_**At lunch break, in the conference hall.**_

_Whaat? Lunchtime? But that's my favorite time in school! I hate u guys! And besides where is the conference hall?_

He sighed.

_**I'll take you there.**_

_Yay!_

This conversation kept going and going. When Hyuuga stopped writing, I wrote something and made him answer. The topic was mostly about the band. He told me that they performed on stage so many times, so they all are pros on this. Wow, I really do wonder how Neji looks like on stage.

Then the lesson was over, we got out. I checked my schedule and saw I had P.E with Sasuke. So Neji and I parted our ways and I made my way to the gym. I got in the dressing room, found my locker and wore my tracksuit. Oh, it was so comfortable! I love P.E.

I didn't know any girls in the room, nor did I want to meet with them. I had my reasons for this. One, they were all stuck up girls. Two, they were complaining about how the tracksuits are disgusting, and uncomfortable. Conclusion: They should just stay away from me if they value their lives.

In the gym, I saw Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke!"

Sasuke, who was busy with staring at the wall, turned his head towards me. Other girls gasped as I made my way to him. I must say that I earned some glares from those girls.

"Hello, Tenten." he said.

"Um, what are these girls are glaring at me for?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are they glaring?"

I stared at him. "Are you dense?"

"Hey-!"

"Oh, that's right. You and Hyuuga are the popular guys in this school. They must be your fangirls."

Sasuke sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"I'm always right. Now c'mon, Gai sensei has come."

The fangirls were still staring at me and they were whispering each other. "_She talks with him. How does she do that? Isn't she only a new transfer student? Dammit, she's so dead!"_

Uh-oh… I think I made some people angry. Tee hee… Suck it, losers!

Ahem… Anyway, I've seen Gai sensei before, but never been in his class. He's um… what's the word? Strange! He's strange. He always wears green spandex and he has bowl-cut hair. Did I mention his eyebrows? They're thick!..

"Good morning my youthful class!" Gai sensei exclaimed with pure happiness and joy. Everyone muttered things like "Good morning." , "How can he be energetic at this hour?" , "Geez…"

Well, except for a boy.

"GOOD MORNING GAI SENSEI!" **(A/N: Guess who said that)**

We all flinched at the _very _high volume of shouting. I turned my head towards the voice and saw… Gai sensei? No, it was a younger person. A younger person that _exactly _looks like him… Green spandex, bowl-cut hair, thick eyebrows… Wow…

"MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT!" Gai shouted. Then they hugged. Seriously. They hugged. And a sunset appeared on the background. **(A/N: Like it always does… XD) **

I was speechless at the scene. Sasuke, who saw my er… astonishment, felt the need to explain.

"That is Lee. He's the miniature of Gai. He says Gai is his idol and wants to be like him when he grows up. Well, they're the same. They both talk rant about youth, they make a hundred laps around the school on hands etc."

"On hands?" I asked, unbelievingly. "Wow, that's awesome!"

Sasuke shot me a veeeery weird look. His face was like _what-the-hell-Tenten-you-too?_ Trust me, I would never be like them, Sasu-chan. Even if I wanted to.

"My dear class! Today we are going to run twenty laps in the gym. Get prepared!" Gai ordered and we took our places.

I was shocked. "_Twenty laps?_ Seriously? I mean, I get it when he does it, but making us to do it?"

"That's Gai for you." Sasuke smirked. "He's merciful today. Normally we run like thirty or forty laps."

"Curses…"

-x-

"Huff… huff…"

I was panting heavily when the lesson was over. Darn… Everybody else was the same, except for Lee and well, Sasuke. He wasn'r running very fast to begin with. I guess it was a tactic to avoid getting tired, I should consider doing it.

The other girls were just complaining non-stop. They had already annoyed me by doing these things:

-Keep shoving me while running

-Trying to run with Sasuke

-Whining endlessly

-Trying to death-glare me (which was epic fail and pretty funny)

So like I told you, they _have to_ stay away from me. For their own sake.

I didn't want to listen more, so I rushed to Sasuke who was getting out of the gym.

"Sasu-chaaan!"

I heard the whispers increased. "How dare she say something like that?" And a girl whom I don't remember what did she look like, half-exclaimed to her friends. "Omg, that's the girl who walks home with Neji-kun!"

Really? Neji-kun? I would've laughed my ass off if I wasn't running. "Sasuke, did you know your fangirls are weird?" I asked when I catched up with him.

"I know…" He said, waving his hand like he wanted to shoo a mosquito. "They're troublesome."

"Haha, you talked like Shikamaru just now! _Troublesome._ Hahaha!"

"What's so funny about it?" he asked.

"Oh, I dunno. I just wanna laugh, I think."

He sighed. "By the way, don't forget your selection today." I think he was trying to change the subject.

"Don't worry; I'm looking forward to it! No way I'm gonna forget it!"

"I don't know how you are so sure of yourself, but good luck. It's not that easy to pass through me and Hyuuga."

"Like I said, don't worry."

"I'm not worrying about anything."

Hehe, annoying Sasuke was fun not as fun as Hyuuga. "Alrighty, see ya later! I have homeroom now!"

"Right. Bye."

-x-

"Tennie-chan!" someone exclaimed when I got in the class. _Tennie?_ I looked around to see Sakura.

"What's with the nickname, forehead?" I asked, using the nickname Ino had found for Sakura.

"Don't call me forehead!" Sakura said.

"Then don't call me Tennie!"

"Fine, I'll call you Panda, then."

"…"

"What?"

"Are you suicidal?"

Naruto intervened. "C'mon ladies, don't fight over this."

I let out a frustrated sigh before sitting on my desk.

"Ne, Tenten-chan?" Naruto said, poking my arm.

"What?"

"Which song are you gonna play today?"

"I was thinking of playing _Numb_ by Linkin Park. Of course I'm not gonna sing but I think it's a good choice and a popular song. Everyone loves it."

"That's right." Sakura joined. "Everyone knows that song."

"Well, it's a good song." I said.

Our conversation got interrupted by a certain teacher, Kakashi-sensei with Icha Icha Paradise in his hands.

"Good morning class. I'm sorry I'm late. You see, I helped a little kitten on the tree-"

"LIAR!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed.

"Naruto, sit down."

And so, we started the lesson.

-x-

Ooo-kay. Now we're in the fourth period. After this is lunch time which means my selection. It was Biology with Ino and Kiba.

It was pretty boring, I've always hated Bio. So I kept talking to Ino and Kiba. They're quite the funny type actually. Kiba was making funny jokes and Ino herself was hilarious. So, in the end of the year, there's a pretty strong possibility that I'll fail Bio. Oh well, I'll study. No biggie.

Then, the teacher warned us and we had to stop talking. Darn! Anyway, I started to draw random things on the desk. While the teacher said things like "The citric acid cycle begins with the transfer of a two-carbon acetyl group from acetyl-CoA …" Oh god, that's BORING!

After fifteen minutes, the lesson was over. We got up and got out of the room hurriedly.

"UGH I HATE BIO!" I shouted.

"I know, Tenten, but can you please keep it down?" Kiba said.

"I AGREE WITH PANDA!" Ino exclaimed.

"Hell yeah!" Wait… "_Panda?_"

Ino giggled. "Just a lil' nickname Sakura found for you."

"When did she tell you?"

"She texted me." Ino said, grinning. I narrowed my eyes.

"You two are sooo dead. But not for now. I gotta find Hyuuga, I have a selection to attend. Enjoy your short life, Piggie."

She glared at me, I only smirked and waved goodbye. Now I had to find Neji… Hmm, what did he say about meeting? I forced my brain but didn't remember. Then my phone vibrated. I saw that there was a message from **FancyHair,** meaning the Hyuuga. I smirked and opened the message.

_Meet me at the cafeteria._

That was all. Darn the perfect guy. He crosses every i's, and dots every t's. Oh wait… That's the other way around. Heh…

_Okie dokie! :) _ I texted back to him and made my way to the cafeteria. I saw him waiting for me in the doorway.

"Let's go." he said when I approached him.

"Yeah…" I murmured as we headed for the conference hall.

What was this feeling? Maybe… nervousness? What the hell? I thought I had full confidence in myself. I got angry, for making a fuss for such a trivial matter. I mean, what's the big deal? I was only gonna play guitar in front of only _four_ people! I guess I understand now why people kept asking me if I was excited. Hmm…

"Are you okay?" His question startled me. I looked up and realized we stopped walking.

"H-huh? What?"

"What's with the face, Tenten?" he asked this time.

"What face?" I asked, totally oblivious.

He rolled his eyes. "Why are you so tense? You looked just okay this morning."

"Oh… that. Well, I think I'm kinda…"

"Excited?" he completed my sentence, smirking a little.

Annoyed by his smirk, I said, "Don't you dare laugh at me, Hyuuga!"

"Okay, first, calm down. Second, you know that's it's not that much of a big deal. You shouldn't start panicking. It'll only make things worse."

"Geez, thanks for the advice." I mumbled. Neji smirked wider this time.

"Whatever, we're here."

I looked at the front door of the conference hall. I took a peek inside, and saw Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke preparing the stage for me… Uh… Seeing the stage made me more nervous. But I didn't have time to be… Because when I tried to get back, Neji pushed me slightly, so I was inside.

"Good luck." he grinned.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and stepped towards the stage. Now I did mention that I was gonna be selected, right? So here I come!..

**Uh... I know it sucks, but bear with me just a little more, okay? I promise I'll make this story better!**

**Anyway, I'm sorry that I couldn't update because I went through a very intense week. I was in an exam week (that's the best translation I could make) and hell, I HAD THIRTEEN DAMN EXAMS IN ONLY... ONLY... SEVEN DAYS! MAN WTF? I think I died and came back... Wait, that makes me a zombie! *starts waving her hands around* I'M GUNNA EAT YOUR BRAIIIIIN!**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**Um, sorry for the outburst. It's pretty normal for me to go crazy after exam weeks. Well, try to take thirteen fucking hard exams in a row... (yeah, I'm pissed. I apologize for the language :'D)**

**Anyway, see you later! And I swear I'll update next weekend! :3**


	5. Selection Part 2

**Hey, I'm back! I've been ****really busy and lazy this whole time. Heh... Anyway, enjoy the new chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (sometimes I forget the disclaimer but you still know this anyway)**

* * *

Okay, I was tense… When I grabbed my guitar with my sweaty trembling fingers, I looked up to the jury, (I mean Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Neji) and saw Sakura smiling at me sympathetically. She gave me a slight nod, as to giving a sign for me to start. And I saw Naruto smirking and giving me a thumbs up. _You can do it._ This expression was written all over his face. I suddenly realized that I had no reason to feel anxious. I was here to do what I do best and heck, I was gonna do it perfectly!

_I'm tired of what you want me to be_

_Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface_

_I don't know what you expect from me_

_Put under the pressure, walking in your shoes..._

_Every step that I take is another mistake to you_

_I've become so numb, I can't feel you there_

_Become so tired_

_So much more aware I'm becoming this_

_All I want to do is be more like me_

_And be less like you…_

_Can't you see that you're smothering me_

_Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control_

_Cause everything that you thought I would be_

_Has fallen apart right in front of you_

_Every step that I take is another mistake to you_

_And every second I waste is more than I can take!_

I was feeling so much better with every note I played. All my anxiousness was gone. On the stage, there was only me and my guitar.

_I've become so numb, I can't feel you there_

_Become so tired_

_So much more aware I'm becoming this_

_All I want to do is be more like me_

_And be less like you…_

Here comes my favorite part, which I've written a great solo for (I'm great, deal with it).

_And I know_

_I may end up failing too_

_But I know_

_You were just like me when someone disappointed in you_!..

My fingers weren't trembling anymore, in fact, they were moving so fast. I took a peek from the corner of my eye and saw the jury… well, in amazement. Naruto was grinning like a maniac, Sakura's eyes were wide open, Sasuke was just staring at me dumbly (which was reaaally funny, you should've seen it!) and Neji… his lips were slightly parted, eyebrows were raised and he was watching my fingers carefully.

Darn, if I kept focusing on them, I was gonna suck! So better focus on playing…

_I've become so numb, I can't feel you there_

_Become so tired_

_So much more aware I'm becoming this_

_All I want to do is be more like me_

_And be less like you…_

_I've become so numb I can't feel you there__  
__I'm tired of being what you want me to be__  
__I've become so numb I can't feel you there__  
__I'm tired of being what you want me to be…__  
_

I finished the song with a basic but nice riff. I was panting and my fingers were hurting. I put my guitar on the ground, without looking at the jury. All I could do is to wait for the decision. After five seconds what it seemed like hours, someone started clapping.

I looked around to see who was clapping, because it wasn't one of the jury. When I took a look at the back seats of the hall, I saw Hinata, Shikamaru, Kiba and Ino sitting. How the heck I didn't recognize them?

Ino had gone hyper. She was shouting and cheering.

"Go Tenten! Show them how it's done! Woohoo!"

Kiba and Hinata were applauding too, but in a less noisy way. Shikamaru was too lazy to clap; nevertheless he was trying to calm Ino down.

"I say FRIGGIN YES! SHE HAS TO JOIN US!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly. I jumped a little. Dammit girl, I'm on edge here, can you please NOT SHOUT? Of course, I didn't say that out loud.

"ME TOO!" Naruto yelled getting up. "Tenten-chan, you were amazing!"

"Thanks!" I said, now relieved a little. Alright, now for the Fancy Hair guys' desicion.

We all waited for their decision. Sasuke talked first.

"I think I'll say yes too..."

I blinked. Wow…

"My vote is yes." Neji said with his deep voice.

I blinked again.

"Uh…"

"OMIGOOOOOD!" I heard the girls' exclaiming and jumping on me and knocking me over.

"We have another girl member besides meeee!" Sakura was shouting.

"Tenten-chan, I'm so happy for you!" was what Hinata said.

"I'll be your stage manager! I'll make the costumes for you." was Ino's way of celebrating.

I sweatdropped. Uh-oh…

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she won't design slutty things for you." Sakura said, giggling.

"Hey! They're not slutty!" Ino protested.

"Alright, guys I'm hungry. Are you coming with us or not?" I heard a lazy voice nearby, without a doubt, Shikamaru's.

We got up from the floor. I didn't realize that the boys were ready to head for the cafeteria. We were too busy with rejoicing, you see.

"We're coming!" we exclaimed in union.

**At the cafeteria**

In the little time we had left, we were rushing to eat our meals. When I stuffed a piece of bread in my mouth, I saw Sakura and Ino looked at each other meaningfully. Then they nodded almost simultaneously. I shrugged and continued eating.

"Hey Tenten," Ino spoke. "Do you wanna come with us to the movies this Saturday? I mean, tomorrow?"

"Yeah, after all you're one of us from now on." Sakura told.

"Oh, sure! I'd love to!" I said. Hinata smiled at me. Right then, I felt the sincerity of my new friends so clearly. I almost felt like I was at home for the first time…

"So, Panda," Kiba cut in, smirking. "You had a promise with Naruto, remember?"

I gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

"You were gonna play Left 4 Dead with him."

"OMG, you're right!" I exclaimed suddenly, making the rest jump. "Naruto, come on! We're gonna play it now!"

"Fine by me!" Naruto said, all eager.

Kiba was grinning, satisfied. "Man, it will be a sight to see! To see Naruto losing against a girl! It will be the best blackmail ever!"

"No way I'm gonna lose!"

"You'll see." I said, getting up. "C'mon!"

"Eh, I don't want to disappoint you but the lesson is about to start." Hinata said shyly. I checked my watch. Damn!

"She's right. We have only five minutes." I glared at Naruto. "But that doesn't mean you got off the hook."

"I know." He said, smriking evilly. "Same goes for you too."

I got up to go to Math class with Shikamaru. "'Kay guys, we'll see you around."

As we made our way to the class, Shikamaru(surprisingly) talked. "You know, Naruto is pretty good at Left 4 Dead. You shouldn't take him so lightly."

"Yeah, yeah. Right." I said, not caring.

"By the way, you are playing the guitar really good."

"Thanks. I'm practicing as much as possible."

"It works."

"Shikamaru? Are you okay? You seem pretty talkative today. Why is that?" I asked curiously.

"No particular reason. Can't I ask some questions without a reason?"

"Nope."

"And why is that?"

"You're not the type to."

Realizing I would make this conversation much longer and less logical, he stopped talking. I grunted and sat on my desk. "You're boring."

Before the teacher came, the only thing Shikamaru said was "Thanks.".

-x-

"So, Neji." I said as we were walking back to home. "What did you think about my performance?"

He looked at me. "Do you want the truth?"

"Sure." I said, raising an eyebrow. I didn't like his tone. He had said yes, but it looked like my performance wasn't as perfect as I thought.

"Well, you're not near perfect." he said bluntly. Ouch… "And," he continued. "you were so tense when you were on the stage. Because of that, you missed the cue."

"If you were thinking that way, you could just say no!" I said angrily.

"I said yes because other than those mistakes, you were good. Especially at the solo part. That was what impressed me the most. And don't worry, we'll make you better."

I didn't know whether to thank or become angry. I did neither; instead, I just kept walking.

When we were in front of the apartment buiding, I opened the front door with my key and let Neji in. We got in the elevator. He pressed four as I pressed five. We were standing quietly until the elevator made a "thump" and stopped.

The elevator… had just stopped. And I was inside with only Neji!

Okay, calm down Tenten. No need to panic. It's not like he's gonna do something to you. If the electricity wasn't cut, it would've been a lot better!

"Are you alright?" Neji's deep voice asked through the darkness.

"Um… I think so." I almost whispered, scared. I was scared. I hate darkness. I hate it!

Neji didn't respond, instead he knocked on the elevator's door. "Hello? Anybody there?"

I was scared so I couldn't move. I just waited for a response from outside.

"No response." Neji said, after a minute which seemed like an hour. "Don't worry. Someone will realize that we're here. We'll get out in no time."

"O-okay…"

I hardly saw Neji's half-concerned eyes, looking at me. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes…"

Don't ask why I'm so afraid of the darkness… It's a childhood trauma. Maybe I'll tell about it later. For now, let's focus on the events.

I sat down on the floor and crawled in a corner, waiting for someone to rescue us. Neji sat down too, on the other side of the elevator.

"Is your cell phone with you?" Neji asked suddenly.

"Great idea!" I exclaimed, feeling a little relieved. I searched my pockets to find it. "Aha!"

I called the apartment manager. I was afraid that the phone's charge would be empty (like always happens in movies). To my relief, it wasn't empty. The manager said he'd come but he wasn't nearby. It would take half an hour to get here with a mechanic.

Damn! I had to wait half an hour. I can't wait that long! I was cursing inside. But I managed to keep an emotionless face (I think).

So then we waited… waited… waited… waited while we sat on our places, no talking at all. I had wrapped my arms around my knees, burying my face in. I have no idea how Neji was doing at the time and I didn't care. All I could think was I had to get out of there.

"Do you think I should call someone else?" I asked in a very low voice, after like twenty minutes, what it seemed like hours.

"No… The manager should come around ten minutes. There's nobody else knows how this elevator works besides him. Just bear a little bit more."

"Alright…"

So I we kept waiting until we heard some voices. People talking… They came!

"Are you okay?" I heard the manager's voice.

"Yes." Neji replied.

"Okay, we're coming."

I had gotten up with hope. Neji, seeing me standing, got up too. I looked at him, he was staring at upside of the door. The place where we stuck was just a little below the third floor. So the door was above us. That was where Neji had been looking at.

Minutes later, they managed to open the door. The manager bestowed his hand to us. Neji gestured me to take his hand, which I gladly accepted. I took his hand as he pulled me up. And finally, I was rescued! Oh my god, what an awful experience that was! I don't want it to ever happen to me again!

Neji, who was standing near me, thanked the manager. The manager said it was nothing and apologized for this. After he was gone, Neji looked at me.

"Can you climb the stairs?" he asked.

I gave him an angry look. Looks like I had gained my emotions back. "Why wouldn't I? I'm not that fragile!"

"You looked so pale in the elevator, so I just asked if you needed any escord." he said, sounding amused ever so slightly.

"Idiot, if you tell anyone about this, I'll rip you into pieces!"

He just shrugged, not seemed to be affected by my threat. He started to climb the stairs and I followed hurriedly. He insisted on escorting me to my flat.

"Take care." was the only thing he said before leaving.

And the only thought striked my mind was _oh dammit I must've looked so weak and vulnerable!_

Swearing to myself, I made my way to my bedroom, to have a nice sleep. _Darn…_

* * *

**Ha..! Here's a lil' drama for you guys! :D I wasn't going to end the chapter like this, but I think it turned out... fine? :D And sorry if the characters are a little OOC. ^^; **

**I'm too tired right now, I can barely keep my eyes open. But still, I found the inspiration from somewhere to finish this. So here it is! I'm too lazy check for spelling or grammar mistakes. **

**Okay, here's some ranting about what I've been doing. I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII like a maniac! It has amazing graphics, amazing musics, amazing battle mode, and amazing storyline! :D People say that it's linear, but I think it makes the gameplay easier. And it's a pretty long game, I still haven't finished it even though I'm on chapter seven! Oh well, I would've played even if it was fifty chapters. And there's Lightning! She's the awesomeness! She's the female version of Cloud, which is one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters ever. Other characters are a little... well, annoying. Especially Hope... He's just an oblivious kid. I dunno, his anger for Snow seems so meaningless. Maybe my opinion will change as I beat the game. :'D**

**Oh and by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Wow, we in 2011 already, huh? I still can't believe it. I sometimes still write 2010 accidentally :D I'm not used to 2011.**

**P.S: Guys, I have another freaking busy exam week so I'm sorry I can't update for a while. Another thirteen exams are waiting for me T_T**


	6. The Practice and Horror Movies

**New chapter. Yay. Go on. Read it. And review. Oh, that sounded like an order. Ahem... Can you please review my story? *puppy eyes* Yeah, that's better. :)**

"One two… one two three four!"

_I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind  
I left my body somewhere in the sands of time  
I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon  
I feel there's nothing I can do, yeah…_

"Stop." Neji had stopped playing and was looking at us. He sighed. "Tenten, you miss the cue. Sakura, you play wrong. Check the sheet again. Naruto, try not to shout so loud. It's annoying."

I was standing there, my mouth agape. What? Was he thinking that he was our boss? How the heck was he to tell us what to do?

Even though I was mad, I realized that no one was angry. Sakura whispered to me: "You'll get used to it. He always corrects us. Don't you dare argue with him. It'll get you in trouble."

"…Oh."

"We're doing it again." announced Neji.

And so we did. We were practicing Kryptonite from 3 Doors Down. A nice song. Not hard at all. Still, I could feel my fingertips aching a little when we finished with the practicing. Well, we had played it over like ten times or so. It was tiring and getting boring as we kept playing it. And Neji and Sasuke kept correcting us all the time. Geez…

When we played the last note, everybody put their instruments aside. "Whew… That was a long practice." Naruto sighed.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

"Okay guys!" Sakura exclaimed, who still seemed to be as energetic as ever. "I have an idea!"

"Oh no…" I mumbled, afraid of what is to come.

Sakura glared at me. "For our repertoire, I wanted to add 'Don't Say Lazy' too!"

"…You don't mean the ending song from the anime K-ON!.. Right?" I asked, eyes wide with confusion. I couldn't believe someone else was watching anime besides me.

"You bet I do!"

"KYAAA-!" I yelled. Man, I love that song! It's so energetic!

"Whaaat?" Naruto protested. "I don't want to sing girly songs!"

"It's not girly!" I argued.

"Oh yeah? Well, K-ON is a girly anime, so its songs are girly too!"

"I have to agree." Neji said.

"Dammit guys!" I stomped on the floor with frustration.

Sakura got a little mad though. "Okay, so far, I was playing anything you guys asked me to." She stared at them. "I played _every_ song, just to make you happy. Now, I think it's my turn, right?"

"But still-" Naruto whined.

"Right…" Sasuke said, surprising all of us. "It's your turn. It would be unfair if we didn't give you a chance to choose a song."

Everyone stared at him, mouth agape. Then Sakura clapped happily. "Okay, let's vote it! Who wants to play it?"

I raised my hand, so did Sakura and Sasuke. Wow…

Neji just shrugged when Naruto kept complaining. "But I don't wanna sing it."

Sakura grinned widely for this. "That's good. Cause you're not gonna sing it."

"…Eh?"

"Tenten and I will!"

"WHAT?" The boys reacted.

"Why the hell I don't know that?" I cried.

"Because I've just decided it." Sakura said simply. "And we're gonna do it, Tennie, despite whatever the hell you say."

"Stop. Calling. Me. Tennie."

"Aight, Panda."

I twitched. The boys thought it would be better if they didn't interrupt. But we were interrupted by someone else: One hyperactive Ino, dragging a confused Hinata behind her.

"Guys!" Ino came in. "I have some great news for ya!"

"Oh really? What's that?" Sakura asked.

"You're gonna play in the November Fest!"

"What? Really?" Naruto asked. "That's awesome!"

"How did you manage that?" Sasuke inquired. "It's not easy to attend the November Festival."

"I know, but I'm super." Ino retorted. Hinata smiled.

"Seriously, Ino, how did you manage it?"

"I just talked with Shizune-san on the phone. She told me that she knew about the band and wanted to see you on the stage."

"Wow…" Sakura mumbled.

"Um, guys?" I cut in. "What's this 'November Festival'?"

"Oh, you don't know anything, do you?" Ino sighed. "November Fest is a school dance/prom or whatever you call it."

"Why November?"

"I was getting to that. This school, Konoha, was built in November. So, every year in the second week of November, we celebrate it and do a festival."

"Oh, I see."

"It's hard to get a chance to play in that fest, so we're lucky to get a chance."

"Wait, wait, wait-" Naruto cut in. "Does that mean we have to play different songs?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Ino explained. "On concerts, they usually play more "rock-like" songs. But this time, yeah, you're gonna have to play softer ones."

"And why's that?"

"Because people will dance with those songs." Sakura rolled her eyes. I nodded, getting it finally. Having explained that, Ino turned to the others.

"Okay guys, what do you say?"

"I think we should join." Naruto stated. "It would be nice, right?"

"Whatever." Sasuke said, waving his hand listlessly.

"Hn." was all we could get from Neji. Seriously, I think sometimes he forgets how to talk.

"Alright, that's awesome!" Ino exclaimed. "Now, I have a huge responsibility of being your manager. We should make up the song list until Monday. We should get started NOW!"

-x-

"Okay, now what?" Ino asked grumpily. We were staring at the paper for like… 30 minutes? Yep, 30 minutes… We still couldn't find songs for the festival. We only had Kryptonite and Don't Say Lazy. We couldn't come up with anything else.

"What about Numb?" Hinata asked.

"Naw." Sakura said. "Too many bands play it. Not original."

"Hmm…"

"I got it!" Naruto said suddenly. "What about Losing My Religion by R.E.M? It's a really nice song and easy to practice."

"You're right!" I said. "Nice one, Naruto."

"Heh."

Ino quickly wrote down that song. Okay, that makes it three. We need seven more songs. Hm…

"You know, we need to add some slow_er_ songs." Ino pondered. "Like… Hotel California?"

"That's good." Sasuke told, finally saying something.

"And some dramatic ones?" I suggested.

"Oh I know!" Sakura snapped her fingers. "Space Dye Vest by Dream Theater!"

"Oh my god, that's like the most dramatic song I've ever heard!" I said.

"It's so going on the list!" Ino said, writing it. So we kept on thinking. It was hard, but in the end, we managed to do the list. Here it is:

_1) Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down_

_2) Don't Say Lazy – K-On!_

_3) Hotel California - Eagles_

_4) God Bless – Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya_

_5) Losing My Religion – R.E.M_

_6) Diary of Jane – Breaking Benjamin_

_7) Savin' Me – Nickelback_

_8) Space Dye Vest – Dream Theater_

We still couldn't decide for the last two. We wanted the last three songs to be especially slow and special – you know, something that people can slow dance to. It's a festival, there's gonna be couples for sure! Something they can dance to… Hmm… hard choice.

Everyone was pondering, suggesting songs but they didn't seem suitable. A song… a slow song... Right then, Hinata slowly raised her hand.

"Ano… I came up with a song."

"Oh? What's that?" Ino asked.

"My Immortal by Evanescence." she answered.

Everyone stopped for a second. Then I glomped Hinata, then Ino and Sakura did the same. "Hinataaa! You're a genius!"

"A fricken genius!"

"G-guys, you're exaggerating!" Hinata blushed.

"No, that was a nice choice, Hinata!" Naruto winked, surprising us. Hinata blushed more. Oh god, she was so cute!

"…we still have to find another song though." Neji butted in.

"That's right." I said.

We kept thinking and thinking. Then slowly… something came to my mind. "Guys… I found it…" I muttered.

"Tell us!" Ino yelled.

"Eternal Love…by Sayuri Sugawara." I said. That was one of my favorite songs of all time. It's cheerful and sad at the same time. You should listen to it. Now. Anyway.

"Nice choice." Sakura winked.

"That's settled, then!" Ino exclaimed, very happy with the song list. "You're gonna practice these songs and I'm gonna prepare your stage costumes! But for now… We'll go to movies!"

"YAY!" We yelled. Well, except for Neji and Sasuke. They nodded though.

"Imma call Kiba and Shikamaru." Sakura said.

-x-

We decided to go to a scary movie. Well, **I** certainly didn't decide on that, you have already seen how I am afraid of darkness. If it's a comedy or action, that's fine, I seem to forget about it. But when you mix the darkness of the movie theater with the scary movie… well, results don't seem good enough.

I insisted on going to an action movie, but everyone else scary would be the best. Only Neji agreed with me after seeing I didn't want to go. But I shut him up, because I didn't want to look weak in front of my new friends. And **I am not weak** dammit!

Anyway, we bought our tickets and got in. I was sitting next to the wall. We were lined up like this: Me, Neji, Ino, Shikamaru, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba. I wanted to sit next to one of the girls because if I got bored or scared, I could easily gossip with them. But with Neji, it seems highly unlikely.

The film started and we all shut up. It wasn't scary at all at first, only gory and bloody stuff. I don't get scared of them. But then, the real stuff began. All girls in the room yelled (including me) "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" when that blonde haired cute little girl suddenly got her head blown off. Very. Disgustingly.

Finally, the first session was over and we got outside to get some popcorn.

"That wasn't scary at all!" Naruto said.

"Yeah!" Kiba agreed. "They can't make a good scary movie for the hell of it."

Shikamaru yawned. "It was boring."

"How the hell you can say it was boring?" Ino demanded furiously. "I was so afraid that I couldn't even close my eyes!"

Shikamaru glanced at Ino. "It was that bad?"

"It was!" Ino yelled. "You were sitting beside me, didn't you recognize it?"

"I was sleeping."

As Ino and Shikamaru kept fighting, I asked to Hinata: "Are they always like this?"

"They're childhood friends. They're like this ever since I've known them." she smiled apologetically.

"Oh…"

Even though I was chatting and laughing with my friends, I was feeling Neji's eyes on me. And that made me nervous. He really must've thought I was fragile. Well, I'll show him that I'm not!

-x-

"GYAAAAAAAH-!" I screamed, knocking over the popcorn when a ghost appeared out of nowhere. I grabbed on Neji's arm instinctively, startling him. Then I looked up to him and our eyes contacted. It was only for a second though, I let go of him immediately and turned my eyes.

"Sorry…" I mumbled. He didn't respond. He just turned away, watching the film. I looked at him for a second then turned away.

For the rest of the movie, I closed my eyes and sang a song to myself. When I took a peek, I saw Sakura and Ino were doing the same thing. Hinata was watching with horror-filled eyes, Shikamaru was sleeping, Kiba and Naruto were having so much fun and Sasuke didn't care.

The movie ended when everyone died. When we got out, we realized how late it was. The sun had already went down. It was time to split up.

"'Kay, see y'all tomorrow." Kiba waved to us, walking away with Shikamaru. Sakura, Ino and Hinata said goodbye too. They were going together since they were living so close. Naruto and Sasuke were dorm mates so they went together. Now, there was only me and Neji. Great.

Neji said he had a car. A car! A fuckin' car! And it was a last model Mercedes! I want one too!

When we were in the car, Neji looked at me suspiciously. "Are you alright?"

Normally, I would've answered energetically, like _"Yeah, why the hell I wouldn't be?"_ But now, I didn't feel like it so I didn't lie.

"I don't know. I'm not feeling bad, but not good either."

Neji sighed, parking the car in front of a market.

"Nej-" He got out before I could even finish my sentence. Two minutes later, Neji was holding some white chocolate in his hand. He got in and gave the chocolate to me.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"Eat it." He only said. I blinked. Wow… That guy knew how to make me happy!

"Thank you!"

I started to nibble the chocolate at first, but then, I started to eat intensely. Again.

Neji parked in the parking lot. He looked at me from the corner of his eye. He showed no sign of emotion on his face but I could tell him that he was relieved. Hmm… I must have looked really bad. Oh well, I was feeling so much better.

As we were waiting for the elevator, I smiled at him, my way of thanking him. I guess he get what I meant. He just nodded. But I surprised him by punching his arm.

"Hey! What was that for?" He asked, rubbing his arm.

"Oh, just felt like it." I answered, smirking. He rolled his eyes and we got in the elevator. When we reached his floor, I waved.

"I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah," he said, turning his back and got out.

I reached my home, and threw myself to the bed. It had been a long day. Without even realizing it, my eyes felt heavy and I fell into a deep, long sleep.

**Okay, I'm officially screwed. I mean it. I haven't gotten such bad grades before. I'm not feeling good. I don't know how I even managed to write this chapter. Sometimes I hate my school. And my country... the education system sucks. I hate being forced to study all the time. What kind of a life is that? They try to make us choose: good grades or a life. I'm trying to do both but it doesn't seem to work. Darn...**

**Anyway, I don't want to keep you guys busy with my babbling. How are you guys? ^^ Is life being a bitch to you too?**

**Oh wait! I just remembered. I'm gonna do a poll now. I can't decide on the minor couples for the story. I'll have NaruHina but not too sure about the rest. So, I wanted to ask you. What do you want? Please tell your suggestions in your reviews. But consider that I can't do a couple that I don't like, sorry about that ^^**

**That's all for now, folks! I'll update this weekend! (I hope :3)**

**P.S: I suggest you to listen the songs I mentioned here. Maybe you know some of them, but Eternal Love and Space Dye Vest are a must! Listen! NAOW!**


	7. Sleepover

**Hi, I'm back!**

**I'm in a holiday now. But I'll go to out of town tomorrow so no early updates, sorry!**

**Thank you for the reviews though! I didn't get much reviews last chapter so I don't think it was good. I did my best at this chapter. So enjoy!**

A week later, on Friday

"Okay, I'm bored." I pouted, resting my chin on my hands. Shikamaru, who was sleeping at the moment, opened one of his eyes and looked at me.

"Tell me about it."

I actually like Maths. But for some reason, this year it was so difficult and boring. Well, maybe sitting next to a lazy genius didn't affect me good.

"Yeah, but you can do all of the questions without thinking! I can't do it." I sulked.

"I _do_ think. I'm not some super-clever alien life form, you know."

"…I doubt that."

Shika sighed and got back to sleeping. I flipped the pencil around my fingers. I was trying to listen to the teacher but it didn't work. Hmm… what to do? Oh, I found it!

I poked Shikamaru. Poke, poke… poke, poke…

He groaned. "What do you want?" he asked, his eyes half open.

"Entertain me." I ordered. This time, Shika opened his eyes.

"Me? Entertaining _you_? Are you out of your mind?"

"Geniuses don't ask so many questions, Shika." I stated.

"You're out of your mind." he declared.

"That, or I'm just bored."

"I'm not going to entertain you."

"Oh, you're doing it right now." I smirked. He rolled his eyes.

"Glad to be your comic relief. Now could you please be quiet?"

"Geez, Shikamaru!" I threw my arms up. "Do you have to sleep all the time?"

"! Miss Tenten! No talking in my classroom!" The teacher scolded with a high pitched voice. Shikamaru sighed in relief. And me? I was disappointed that I couldn't get Shikamaru to do what I want.

I heard the bell rang and everyone rushed out of the classroom. Except Shikamaru and I. I was practically dragging him beside me.

It was lunchtime so we had to meet our friends. As soon as we got to the cafeteria, I searched for the group and we made our way towards them.

"Here," I said, throwing Shikamaru to Ino. "I think this belongs to you."

I thought I saw a really faint blush on Ino's cheeks. Ooh, what was that? The crazy blonde and the pineapple head… Nice choice, Ino, nice choice.

Shikamaru didn't seem to mind, though. He only glared at me, then gave up and started eating. Hmm… Not good. What if he doesn't like her? I gotta question Shika when I get the time. And Ino, of course!

However, the group wasn't complete. Neji, Hinata and Kiba were missing. They came five minutes later, though. While Neji seemed he didn't break a sweat, Kiba and Hinata were panting heavily.

"Sorry," Kiba said, huffing. "Gai didn't let us go. By the way, there's some new crazy history teacher. We met her on the way. Her name was… Anko, I think."

"Oh? How's she like?" Sakura asked.

"She's insane!" Kiba told her. "I saw her carrying a knife in her coat!"

"What?" Ino exclaimed.

"It's crazy!" I said. "But also, awesome! I've always been interested in knives. Weapons in general."

Everyone stared at me like I was some kind of freak. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing…" Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I think you and that woman will get along pretty good."

"…?"

We ate our lunch in silence for a while. Then…

"Guys!" Ino exclaimed suddenly. Everyone jumped a little.

"What?" I asked half-angrily.

"We're gonna have a sleepover at my place tonight!" she said, giving us a thumbs up.

"Uh… what?" I asked again, not sure I heard right.

"A sleepover! My place! Tonight! Is it that hard to understand?" She waved her hand around her. "Or do you want me to spell it for you? S-L-E-E-P-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" I surrendered.

Ino grinned triumphantly. "So, you guys are gonna come?"

"Yes!" Sakura said.

"Of course." Hinata nodded her head.

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed.

Ino eyed the guys. "What about you?"

The guys had a question mark on their faces. "You want guys in a sleepover?" Shikamaru asked, saying what everyone else had been thinking.

"Sure, why not?" Ino shrugged. "We've known each other for years. I don't think it'd be a problem."

Suddenly, I felt uneasy. I've only known these guys for only three weeks and they were inviting me to a sleepover… Did they trust me that much? I really liked them but I wasn't sure if they liked me that much.

"That's settled then," Naruto said. "A party at Ino's!"

"Yeah!" Kiba cheered.

Ino looked at Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru questioningly. They all nodded almost at the same time and I giggled. They were soooo funny!

The bell rang once again. We got up and made our ways to classrooms. I had P.E. So Sasuke and I went to the gym. Who knew what Gai Sensei came up with today…

-x-

_What should I take with me?_ I asked myself. I was preparing my bag. I put my panda pajamas in it – oh god, girls were going to make fun with me but I didn't care. It was cute!

Once I made sure I had everything with me, I made my way to Neji's flat.

"Neji…" knock knock. "Neji…" Knock knock. "Neji…" Knock knock.

I smirked when I saw a very annoyed Hyuuga opened the door and shot a glare at me. "What, Tenten?"

"C'mon, we're going!" I said, pulling his arm.

"Wait!" he saved his arm. "I'm not going."

My jaw dropped. "Awww, why the hell not?"

"I changed my mind."

"That's no excusable reason." I told him, dragging him behind me. I think it was becoming a habit… Dragging people behind me, I mean.

"Okay okay, I'm coming. Will you let me go?"

I let go of him and he took his bag. Hmm, nice backpack. New and cool. If I tried hard enough, I could've stolen it. MWAHAHAH! Wait, I wasn't serious. Anyway…

It was already four o'clock and it had started to get dark. I pulled out my iPod while we were walking. I browsed through the songs and choose one:** Evil Angel.**I started to sing aloud, making Neji to look weirdly at me.

_Put me to sleep evil angel  
Open your wings evil angel  
Fly under me evil angel  
Why can't I breathe evil angel?_

"…What?" I asked Neji, taking out one of my earbuds.

"You're weird."

I smirked. "Tell me something I don't know."

He rolled his eyes and kept walking. Right then I realized I didn't know where Ino's house was.

"Uh, Neji?"

"Hn?"

"How do we go to Ino's?"

"We'll take the bus." He said, pointing to the bus station.

"Oh, nice…" I murmured.

I became quiet as we waited for the bus. Neji seemed to be surprised at this, and raised an eyebrow. He didn't say something though. I was thinking about my new friends, including Neji. It was… rather unusual that they accepted me this quickly. I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable over this.

"Okay, what is it?" Neji suddenly asked.

"Nothing…"

He sighed. "Just tell me."

"I… I was thinking how quickly you guys accepted me. I mean, I'm just a newcomer and I'm already on my way to Ino's sleepover! Isn't it weird?"

He looked at my eyes for a second then stared outside. "It isn't. Don't let this trouble you. They don't see you as you think they do. They accepted you quickly because you are a lot like them. You like same things, you hate same things… If it was someone fussy and annoying, they wouldn't even talk to her. In this respect, you're different. And, if they didn't like you, they wouldn't invited you to a sleepover."

Wow… I was at a loss for words. I didn't think this guy could talk like this. It really felt good. I was convinced. But…

"Neji, you said 'they' accepted me pretty quickly. Then… what about you? Have you accepted me too?" Before I knew it, the words escaped my mouth and it was too late to take them back.

I guess Neji wasn't expecting me to ask something like that – well, I wasn't expecting it either. He looked at me with slightly wide eyes. I could tell he was very surprised. He thought for a second.

"I think you play the guitar well." he said, returning to his old self. He started to watch outside again. But this was enough for me. I was happy.

_He praised me_.

I smirked and punched him on the shoulder.

Before he could react, I said, "Thanks."

He just shrugged. After that, neither of us talked until we arrived Ino's house.

-x-

"Tenten, welcome!" Ino exclaimed, hugging me tightly. I could see the others had already came. "You're welcome too, Hyuuga." Ino smirked and let us in.

Ino's house was decorated with flowers. All kinds of flowers… It was really cute, if you ask me. The living room was small but I soon realized that the rooms were big. Actually, Ino's room was big. Her room was all purple. But it wasn't a suffocating purple. More like lilac. It was sweet.

"Oh hello there." I heard a man's voice. I lifted my head up and saw a long haired, blonde guy smirking at me. He had exactly the same eyes as Ino's. He was tall and his hair was tied up into a ponytail.

"Hi." I said, waving my hand.

"Tenten, Neji," Ino cut in. "This is my dad, Yamanaka Inoichi. Dad, these are Neji and Tenten."

"Nice to meet you." Neji said as he shook 's hand.

"You too." said. Then we made a handshake too. He turned to his daughter. "Alright Ino, I'm taking your mom to dinner so behave while we're gone." He told her.

_Yeah, right. She'll do it just like that. Don't lose hope._

"Don't worry dad!" Ino said cheerfully. "We won't do anything!"

_Yeah, if we don't consider the possibility of you destroying the house._

"Okay, see ya!"

In Ino's room, everyone was sitting on the floor, forming a circle.

"Where the hell have you guys been?" Sakura asked angrily. I sweatdropped.

"Uh, Sakura? We're only ten minutes late."

"Doesn't matter! You're still late!"

"Alright, just shut it." Sasuke stopped us. "I have a headache."

"Oh, sorry." We apologized.

"Sooo, what are we gonna do?"

"I'm hungry!" Naruto said. "Let's order some ramen!"

"But I don't want ramen!" Sakura huffed.

"Uh… Pizza?" I asked.

"Not a bad idea." Kiba said.

So we ordered three mega size pizzas. It was yummy! We finished it... in five minutes? What the..? Are we that hungry? If it was only me, I wouldn't be surprised but the others eat fast too! Whee!

Now that we were finished with eating, we were thinking what to do next. Ooh, I had a bad feeling about this… In every sleepover the inevitable game is…

"Truth or Dare!" Sakura yelled happily.

"Yes!" some cried.

"But we'll have a special rule." Ino eyed us. "Everyone has to say dare at first round, then truth at second round, then dare again at third round. It'll keep going like this. And…" she got up and took a box in her hands. "we'll pick dares from this box. I've written numerous of them down. Are we clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" we all cried.

I actually like this game. I always say dare because truth is just plain boooring. Sometimes I get in trouble when I choose dare but it's okay. I'm having my fun. But choosing questions from a box… That's unique.

"I'll choose first!" Naruto said eagerly. "And my victim will be… Teme!"

"Hn." Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto pulled out a little paper and read what it said. A grin spread on his face. "Teme, your dare is to… give a piggyback ride to Sakura-chan who's sitting on your left around the apartment building."

"Eehh?" Sakura exclaimed.

"I won't do it." Sasuke grunted. Naruto's smirk grew wider.

"Teme, think it like this: what if the person on your left was, say, Kiba? We can change it, you know."

Sasuke hesitated for a second. The thought of giving a piggyback ride to Kiba must have made him think again. Then, to my surprise, he got up. "Dobe, you know I'll kill you for this, right?"

Naruto raised his hands innocently. "It's not my fault! Ino was the one prepared the questions!"

Sasuke gave Ino a glare. "Then I'll kill her too."

However, Ino was smirking as evilly as she could be. "Have fun!" she waved as a blushing Sakura was being dragged behind Sasuke. We all giggled at this. Funny….

I won't tell you the whole game, because it's way too long. We've played for hours. I got to eat the extra _extra_ spicy chili con carne, sing "Twinkle twinkle little star" while dancing (ow), call a random number and say "I love you," in a seductive tone (I think I failed at that. I was laughing so hard!) and last… I had to kiss someone on the cheek. Because of Hinata, it turned out to be Neji. I didn't expect her to choose Neji! Of course, I got my revenge later. I made her sit on Naruto's lap for two turns. Of course, Hinata fainted in a very confused and worried Naruto's arms. Mwuhahahaha! I'm evil!

Eventually, it got really late and we got really sleepy. When everyone started to yawn, we decided to call it a day. Or night. Whatever… I wasn't aware of the time.

I was feeling dizzy and sleepy. Before I knew it, I fell asleep.

-x-

"Mmhhh… I'm hungry… I want more ramen… Ramen…."

I slowly opened my eyes. For a moment, I couldn't realize where I was. Then I remembered that I was at Ino's. It was still dark though. I picked up my phone to look at the time. It was 4.32.

I realized I was so hungry. That was my reason for waking up. The other thing I realized next was we were sleeping on the floor. I stood up carefully and made my way to the kitchen, leaping over my friends. I turned the lights on. I opened the refrigerator and searched for some ramen but no such luck. I found a chocolate cake. Well, it's not ramen but I decided to eat it. I was feeling a little guilty for eating the cake without asking to Ino but I don't think she'd be angry.

"What are you doing?" a deep voice behind me asked. I jumped a little and turned around.

"Ah, Neji!"

"Why are you up this late?" he asked casually.

"I must ask you the same question!"

"Your footsteps. I thought there was a burglar in the house."

"Oh… Um, I was just hungry." I said.

"I can see that."

Silence…

I was eating my cake as he watched me. "Hey, why don't you go back to your sleep anyway?" I asked, annoyed.

"I'm not sleepy."

"How can you not be? It's freaking 4 a.m.! I'm sleepy as hell!"

"Well, it turns out I'm not. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing I guess…"

I looked at my half finished piece of cake, then Neji. "Hey, Neji. Do you want some?" I offered.

"Huh?" he sounded surprised.

"Do you want some cake?" I told him, as if talking to a six year old boy.

"Oh…" He looked at the cake. Tee hee, I could tell he was hungry. I must admit, he looked cute, trying to choose. I giggled to myself.

"What?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Nothing." I said, still giggling. "C'mon, eat."

"It's Ino's house, you know?"

"Oh, I know but she won't mind."

"…You were the one worried if they accepted you or not earlier."

Good point.

"Oh, I don't feel so uncomfortable anymore." I stated. "After yesterday, I realized that I had no reason to worry, so I act like I want."

He sighed and sat across me. "You're right, I guess." he said and grabbed a fork. We ate that piece of cake together. There was more so I asked him if he wanted more. He didn't reject so we started to eat it too. Then I realized something.

"Neji!"

He jumped a little. "What?"

"You have cake on your nose!" I said, placing my hand on my mouth in order to not to laugh. He seemed irritated. He tried to erase it with his shirt only to spread it.

"Hahahaha!" I couldn't hold myself and laughed out loud. He gave me 'the glare'. "Let me help you, Neji!" I said. I grabbed a little amount of cake and threw it on Neji's cheek.

"Now your cheek is covered with cake too!"

He seemed angry now. "Ha, ha. So funny, Tenten. And, why don't you eat some more?"

"Nah, I've ate too mu-" He stuffed a _large_ piece in my mouth before I could finish my sentence.

He was smirking now. I gulped down and grabbed another piece.

"Oh, you think that's funny? Well, too bad!" I threw it on Neji's forehead. _Ha! In yo' face, you bastard!_

He wiped his forehead and took another piece. "You have pretty good aim."

With that, he threw the cake on my face. After that… Well, you should've already guessed the outcome. Food war!

I was the one who kept the war continued. Whenever he tried to quit, I annoyed him and he threw me something in response. We weren't only making a cake war, you see. We were fighting with everything we could find.

But, there was something we didn't consider. The noise.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?"

"Shit, it's Ino. Run!"

**Alright, the end was random. But their relationship is improving, you know? ^^ tee hee.**

**So, I was bored and created a formspring account. Here it is!**

** formspring .me/oyaburnak **

**you'll have to write it without the space :) You can ask me any question whenever you're bored. Or not... Your choice, completely. :3 Don't mind the turkish questions though. You can ask in English :D**

**Anyway, I gotta go. Please review. Pretty please? Thank you! **


	8. Oh dude it's so lame!

**Um, late update is late. I'm reaaaaaallly sorry but I had a huge writer's block, you see. Actually, I'm still having one but I forced myself to write and managed to finish this chapter. It's like a filler but it's to improve the relationships. So, enjoy!**

"We're sorry." _I _apologized to Ino, hitting Neji with my elbow to make him apologize too. Though, only thing he did was grunting. I gave him a _'dammit dude, we were in this together, now you're selling me off?' _look. In return, he gave me a _'I couldn't care less. You're on your own.'_ look. Ugh…

"I mean, seriously guys!" Ino continued her rant. "Can't you just do something quietly? Are you kids? It's not that hard to-"

"_Okay,_ Ino, we get it. We're sorry." I interrupted her. "What do you expect us to do? What's done is done, right?"

"Clean this mess up before my parents come. Right. Now." She ordered. I gulped at the overwhelming evil power radiating from her.

"Right… C'mon Neji." I dragged him behind me. Turning around, I faced with him, looked at him threateningly: "You'll either help me with this or I'll rip your head apart and send it to heaven before your soul."

I must say, it was a good threat that would make even me obey. Not that Neji was affected. He just shrugged and started to wipe off the various foods on the counter.

"Am I going to do this all by myself?" He asked in a monotone voice. Oh right… I rushed to help him. Ino had come and was watching us with deadly eyes. Dude, someone had to stop this girl's unstoppable rage. Some of our friends had woken up (Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke), asking to Ino what happened. Ino explained them while observing us like a hawk. I twitched, getting angrier to the overreacting Ino.

Neji and I finished cleaning about forty-five minutes later. Oh we made a big mess, that was for sure. I checked my watch. It was 6.26 am now.

"I think we should sleep now. Or else we won't get enough sleep." I told Neji. He just nodded.

-x-

"Bye guys!" I waved to Ino and the others as Neji and I were heading out.

"Bye!" They waved back. I smirked to myself. This sleepover was really fun and I was feeling like I had gotten closer to my friends. They all had unique personalities. That was what made me attached to them. It felt like I had known them for years even though it had only been a few weeks.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Neji asked as we arrived the bus station.

"Oh? Was I smiling?"

"You were. Why?"

"Eh, I was just thinking. Nothing important, really. Why are you so interested anyway?" I asked, trying to focus the subject on him.

"You may say that it's called curiosity." He explained like talking to a dumb. I got irritated, but kept my face the same.

"Thank you for the explanation, idiot."

He rolled his eyes. Then the bus came and we got in. I started to rant about things while he listened to me as always. Seriously, I admire Neji's patience sometimes.

There weren't any empty seats in the bus, so we had to go standing. And, as a cliché that happens in the most stupid movies, the bus was so crowded so we had to stay close. I mean, _really close_. It was making me uncomfortable. His head was just above my head and I could feel his breath. I must admit, it was calming but also it was making me uneasy. Don't ask me how that happens. It just did, okay?

He shifted his weight to his other leg. I guess he was uncomfortable with the situation too. The most embarrassing moment came when the driver suddenly applied the brakes. I, um, crashed into him. If he wasn't standing well-balanced, we could've kissed the floor. He held my arm to prevent my falling. I blushed a little and avoided eye contact.

"Uh… Thanks."

He let go of my arm when he said, "You're welcome."

Then I realized that we had come. Oh god, finally! It was so embarrassing. We didn't talk at all when we got out of the bus and made our ways to home. I said goodbye to him in front of my flat. He said goodbye too, then –a shocking surprise!- he smiled. Not smirked, not grinned but _smiled._

"What the hell are you smiling for, you jerk?" I snapped. "Something funny?"

His smile turned into a grin – now _that _was the Neji Hyuuga that I knew of. "Actually, you were quite amusing today."

"Geez, you're a total fool! Get lost, you idiot!"

I didn't wait for him to go, I just got inside and shut the door in his face. That felt good.

I was pissed off and threw myself on the couch. How dare that jerk make fun of me! I refuse to admit that I was embarrassed dammit!

Idiot.

-x-

The next day on school went pretty normal. When we were on lunch break, we decided to take a walk. I had already finished my lunch. I was outside with Sakura, Ino and Hinata, chatting about irrelevant things. I to told them the bus ride with Neji. They squealed like fangirls and I rolled my eyes. God, they were childish.

Right then, I felt something brushing against my feet. As soon as I felt that, I heard something: "Meow…"

This time I squealed and knelt down before the little kitten in front of me. "Aww, aren't you a cutie! What are you doing in this school?" I said, scratching it's head. D'aww!

Hinata and Sakura petted it too. Ino was afraid to get infested with lice, so she stood away. Then her phone rang. She talked on the phone, and then turned to us.

"Guys, Shikamaru just called. We should go, according to him, Naruto and Kiba got themselves in trouble again."

"Okay okay, you go. I'll come in a minute!" I said, not willing to let the kitty go.

"'Kay, see you later!"

I continued to play with the kitten. It looked like it loved me. It was purring and was so cute! Just then, a hand appeared out of nowhere and stroked the cat's chin. I was surprised by the sudden move. I lifted my head up to see a guy with a charming face, deep blue eyes and blond hair. He was a little bit taller than me, maybe about Neji's height.

"Hello." he said, smiling at me.

"Oh… hi. Is this cat yours?"

"Yes." He answered, still smiling.

"It's so cute. What's its name?"

"Caramel. My six year old sister gave her this name. I thought it was stupid but she liked it so much that I couldn't object. She's there." he pointed to her sister, who was holding a woman's hand, probably her mother's. I waved my hand to the little girl with pigtails and she waved back.

"Here," I said, giving the cat to the mysterious (and handsome) boy.

"Thanks. By the way, I'm Ren Takumi. I'm new at this school. What's your name?"

"Tenten. Welcome to the school. I'm kinda new too."

"I guess I'll see you around. Maybe you'll show me around someday."

He gave me a bright smile as he walked away. I awkwardly smiled back. Why in hell everything that had happened to me has to be embarrassing?

**Was it any good? Lame? Boring? Tell me what you think! ^^**

**Short chapter! But I had fun while writing the bus and meeting with Takumi. :3 I hope you liked it too!**

**I'm sorry that I threw some OCs in, but I just had to. Because there isn't anyone in Naruto that could fit the role in my head. ****A few more will come. Some people don't like OCs. ****So, I hope it won't annoy you. **

**Anyway, I must say that I have exams coming up, so I won't be able to update for... a month. *shot* I'll have my brother change the laptop's password so that I can't spend hours on it. But I'll continue to write on paper, and I'll read your reviews on my phone. Please leave some reviews! They'll help me a lot, and maybe I can get over this stupid writer's block and write a _good_ chapter, not a filler.**

**Enough of this complaining, I'll see you guys later! **


	9. And so it begins

**GAAAH! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!  
Wow, I made you guys wait for... a month. *shothotshot*  
I had very very _very_ frustrating exams. Thank god they're over. Now I can focus on writing again. Yippieee!**

**Ahh-hheemmm! Anyway, I'll leave you alone so that you can read. :)**

Ren Takumi, he sure was a mysterious guy of sorts. He had a genuine smile and honest eyes. I had watched him walking away with his family after he told me to 'show him around someday'. You remember right? Right… For some reason, he had piqued my interest.

I made my way towards the main hall, where I encountered Sakura, Ino and Hinata. Ino had a very weird look in her eyes, Sakura was facepalming to Ino's attitude and poor Hinata was just standing there, smiling apologetically to me. I wondered what happened. Then…

"Who-was-that?" Ino asked in a threatening voice. I backed up a little.

"Who?" I asked meekly. Uh-oh…

"That cute blond guy with shiny hair! Who else?"

"Sounds like you're interested." Sakura teased. "And how did you see that he was cute?"

"…I have a cute guy radar." Ino retorted uncaringly.

"I should've known…" I murmured. Though Ino heard me.

"Now, will you tell me who it was or I'll-"

"Oh for god's sake Ino, he wasn't anyone! It's not like I'll hook up with a random guy without telling you. (In a situation like this, my friends, to avoid Ino's wrath, you need to flatter the piglet. You'll see how faultless it works.)"

"Hm, in that case, I might forgive you." Ino said, pondering. I sighed in relief.

But still, Hinata was curious. "But who was he?"

This time, I sighed in defeat. "He was just the owner of the cat. Turns out he is a newbie like me."

"Oh, a newbie, eh? I can foresee that he won't be alone when he attends the lessons." Sakura talked like a fortuneteller.

"It's not that hard to guess." Ino said. "I bet he'll have fangirls like Sasuke or Neji has. Maybe lesser but still…"

"By the way, didn't you say that something happened to Naruto and Kiba?" I asked to Ino.

"Oh right!" she exclaimed. "Let's go! Maybe we can help in some way."

"Is it Cain again?" Hinata inquired.

"I hope not…" Sakura rolled her eyes. I wondered who Cain was. Oh well, I'll see when I got there…

-x-

Expecting to see only Naruto and Kiba, I was surprised by the sight when we got there. It was a huge mess. About twelve guys or so, were fighting in the middle of the corridor. Our friends were outnumbered by a bunch of idiots. A crowd was gathered around them, forming a circle, cheering. We made our way through the crowd. "What the hell?" I asked, mostly to myself.

Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke were handling them good, but I could see they were getting tired. "We gotta help them!" Sakura exclaimed and we both joined the fight. I went to help Neji, who was fighting with two guys.

I saw a punch coming towards him from one of the guys; I immediately stopped it by catching his wrist. When Neji gave me a look of utter surprise, I smirked. "I don't know what is going on, but if you think I'm just going to stand beside and watch your asses get kicked, oh, you're so wrong." With that, I threw a punch at the guy's stomach, sending him flying backwards. The guy swore while holding his stomach.

Neji was really surprised, I must say. To the point that he forgot that there was another person he had to hold off. The latter took advantage and I ate a rough punch on my cheek. I fell on the floor as I heard some people yelling, "Tenten!". And I heard someone (I bet it was Neji) murmuring "You idiot."

I tried to stand up furiously, holding my cheek. Oh, that guy was in a biiig trouble! I felt something wet coming from my mouth. That's when I realized that there was an injury inside my cheek.

Then, I noticed that Neji was standing by my side. He held my shoulders and looked at my cheek. "Are you hurt?" he asked in his calm voice, though I detected a hint of concern in it. I looked around to see those guys, but they were on floor now. Not fainted though.

"I don't think so." I replied to his question, trying to cover the blood. Of course, he saw right through me.

"Don't lie. I know you're not-"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" a very frightening and loud voice echoed in the hallway. Uh oh…

"It's Tsunade..!" some of the students gasped. Smart ones fled away from the scene immediately. I would too, if I wasn't caught red-handed.

"Shizune!" Tsunade roared.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune appeared, a look of worry was plastered on her face.

"Write down their names immediately! Detention! Today! I'll decide what they'll do later. And Shikamaru and Cain, I want you in my room. Dismissed!"

And with that, the students scattered instantly. Neji examined in inner cheek to see if there were any serious injuries. He raised an eyebrow then.

"Let's go to Shizune's room. You might need some medical treatment."

"What? What 's 't?" I couldn't speak properly because my cheek hurt.

"It seems that your teeth had cut your inner cheek. A kind of deep wound but not that serious. Still, we should go to Shizune's room."

I surrendered because I wanted to get this over with. Neji knocked the door when we were there, and we heard Shizune's voice. "Come in."

Well, it looked like the only injured one wasn't me. A few people were there too, but I didn't recognize all of them. Shizune was taking care of the ones that I didn't know, but Ino and Sakura were treating our friends. Kiba was holding an ice pack against his forehead.

"What 'appened?" I asked him. He rolled his eyes and looked at me with an annoyed expression.

"That Cain..! I'll get him for this!"

"Kiba, don't be stupid." Ino said. I realized she was treating the injured ones along with Sakura and Shizune. "Those guys are already a bunch of idiots, don't let them drag you down to their level."

"But… but look what they have done to Tenten!" Kiba protested, pointing his finger to me. Everyone seemed to be surprised that I was there.

"Oh, hi Tenten." Sakura said, grabbing my arm. "Okay, sit still and I'll do something about this."

"Though it was your fault that you ate a punch in the face." Neji said as emotionlessly as he could, but failing. However, I couldn't distinguish if it was worry or… amusement?

"So, 'ou guys are sum kin' of medics?" I asked, ignoring Neji. Oh gosh, why I couldn't speak like a normal person? Grr…

"Sorta." Ino answered, while forcing me to open my mouth to see the wound.. "We're volunteers and we are going through training under Tsunade-sama."

"I see… But… Why?" I asked, confused.

"Why, we want to be doctors, of course!" Sakura exclaimed, doing a Nice-Guy pose. We all sweatdropped. Sakura… is acting like Gai-sensei? Oh drat…

Realizing what she was doing, Sakura seemed to be embarrassed a little and got back to her own work. I giggled, only to get Ino angry. "Stay still, Tenten!"

"'kay, 'kay!"

-x-

"Are you alright now?" Neji asked as we were walking along the street. School was finally over, and so our detention. Tsunade really wasn't very good at coming up with detention ideas, we had to rearrange the library. It was a work of hell, but we were a lot of people (us and that Cain guy's gang) so we managed to finish it quickly without fighting (surprisingly).

"Yep, I'm perfectly fine. Ino has done a very good job, you know."

Neji didn't give me a response; I didn't expect him to give one anyway. I know the guy better now, so I can foresee when he wants to say something and when he won't talk. Instead, I talked. "Ne, Neji… Who is this Cain guy anyway?"

"Hmm… Cain is, to put it in his way, Kiba's rival – somewhat." he told me.

"Ooo-kay… But how did they become rivals? I don't want to be a part of something that I even haven't got the slightest idea."

"Cain and Kiba liked the same girl. Do you know of the girl named Tomoyo? They both had a crush on her that she wasn't aware of. One day, Kiba asked her out and she declined but Cain was mad. They started a fight. Cain called up his gang, outnumbering Kiba. That's how we got involved in. We saved Kiba and won that first fight. Ever since, Cain wants revenge but we get interrupted by one of the teachers or well, Tsunade."

Oh, now that I had a better grasp of the situation, I decided to ask something else.

"But why did Tsunade-sama called Cain and Shikamaru to her office?"

Neji sighed as we made it to the apartment building. "Well, she sees them as the gang leaders."

I couldn't help but laughing at this. "Shikamaru, a leader? Seriously?"

Lolwhut? Shikamaru didn't have the traits to be a leader! Neji seemed to think otherwise.

"Shikamaru is a very good leader." he said. "You'll see that later."

"Right. And I'm Donald Duck."

Neji smirked when we made it to his floor. Just as he was getting into his apartment, I stopped him, grabbing his shirt. He turned his head around to see me.

"Hey, by the way, we'll make an appearance on the stage in the November Festival, right? When exactly is that? We'll practice more before that, right?" I asked, trying not to sound excited. I wanted to be cool for a change! I guess I failed. -sigh-

To my surprise, he smiled this time. For a moment there, he resembled that Ren guy so much that left my mouth wide open. Only he was hotter. _Way hotter. _I felt my cheeks heat up. I _wasn't_ blushing, right? Oh god, how much I was! I just hoped that he didn't realize that. Oh, me and my mood swings...

"Don't worry, we'll practice." He said. "I know that you're excited about the festival. I don't blame you though, it'll be your first time playing in front of a crowd. But if you can keep this practicing up, it is going to be a lot better than you expect it to be. I, that is, we trust in you." And with that, he got in and closed the door, leaving me there to think about what happened.

Had he just… comforted me?

Did he just say that _he_ trusts me?

_Did he care?_

**Hurr durr... I liked teh ending. But still...**

**I'm reaaallly sorry to keep you waiting. And I know this chapter is short, but I'll update sooner and it'll be longer. I don't know how much longer though. Maybe it'll be a one long-ass chapter or maybe I'll divide it into 3 parts or something. And yep, It'll be about November Fest. There will be some things that you won't expect, but before those _important_ things, I may write a chapter about the other minor pairings' becauuuuseee, things will really get interesting in the festival and I want to improve the minor relationships. Tee hee :3**

**And by the way, if you want to check frequently if I will make an update or not soon, check my profile. I won't write my writing status there, but on a different site. Only if you guys want, anyway.**

**Pwease leave a review because you guys are just awesome! THANK YOUUU *animetearz***


	10. November Fest Part 1

**Hi guys! What's up? I'm doing good, thanks. I'm really tired right now because we played volleyball and danced all day non-stop but I somehow forced myself to finish this chapter. Ta-daaah! Longest chapter! Anyway, please leave a review. Enjoy!**

I woke up with the sun shining on my face. Morning already? Yawning, I got out of the bed. I rubbed my eyes, trying to get used to the lightning. I opened the curtains and looked outside. It was sunny and warm. Ironic, considering it was November. But there were black clouds ahead, foreshadowing that it was going to be rainy. I looked down at the street. There was a family of three. The little girl was playing with a puddle of mud and the mother was trying to stop her while the father was watching them with a smile on his face. I felt my eyes getting cloudy and wet. In times like these, I missed my parents the most – both my real ones and adoptive ones. Even though I was doing fine on my own, I was feeling… a little bit alone. Coming back to home, only to be welcomed by silence… I couldn't help but feeling sad. Although…

_Knock knock_

"Tenten, are you awake?" Neji's voice reached inside.

I smiled to myself. Neji was one of the biggest reasons that I wasn't feeling so alone and doing. Of course Sakura and the others were helping too, but Neji and I were living in the same building and I was together with him often. So I guess it was reasonable.

"I'm coming." I called out. I made my way to the door. Neji was standing in front of the door. "What is it?" I asked grumpily.

He raised an eyebrow. "Tenten… Do you know what day today is?"

"Uh… I dunno. Why?"

Neji sighed. "Today is the day of November Festival, remember?"

"WHAT?" I had totally forgotten that! "Are you serious?"

"You were pretty excited about it yesterday."

I forced my brain to remember. "Oh, I guess I do remember."

Neji looked like he was trying hard not to roll his eyes. "Now, change to your stage clothes. Ino said she was going to put makeup on you when you get there."

"Alright, I'll get ready in a minute. Come and wait inside."

"But-"

"It's okay," I told him, dragging him behind.

I forced him to stay at the living room while I changed my clothes. Ino gave them to me yesterday. I was to wear a black skirt which reached a little above my knees. She also gave me a white shirt which had long and loose sleeves. And I had a pair of very colorful Converses to go with them.

I wonder what Neji wore? I didn't pay much attention to him, to be exact. I went to the living room after I was done. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a loose tie and a black wristband. His jeans were blue and he was wearing white sneakers. His hair was the usual. Somehow… He looked even more… uh… handsome.

"You look nice." Neji said, eyeing me.

"Um, thanks." I said, awkwardly. He gave me a half smirk and stood up.

"Let's go."

"Wait, Neji." I stopped him, tugging the back of his shirt lightly. _What am I doing?_

"Hn?"

"I… Have you… That is… uh,"

"We really do not have the time for this, Tenten. Keep it brief." Neji warned me.

"Alright, I'll ask. I… I've never heard you talking about y-your parents." I was thinking that it would be a touchy topic, so I was having difficulty asking that. "Where… are they?"

Neji obviously didn't expect this. But instead of being surprised, he frowned. Was he… angry?

"Why are you asking this to me of all times?"

"I wondered." I murmured, bowing my head. He looked at me.

"That's not the only reason." Damn!

"Well… I kinda… miss the ones I had before and have now." I confessed in a low voice. "I wondered how it'd be like to be different."

He let out an angry laugh. "Different? I don't think you'd want to be like me. Trust me on this."

Then there was a silence. I was thinking. Was he suffering in the same way as me? Or in a different way? It was obvious that he was having or had a hard life. How hard was it? I wanted him to share it with me, I wanted him to talk about this with me. But he looks like he wasn't going to do that.

He sighed. "We'll talk later. Okay?"

"Alright." I said, feeling down. I followed him to the school.

-x-

School was so crowded. Everyone had gathered in the garden. The instruments were on the stage. There were food stands and other things like that around. When I looked around more, I saw a tent. "Guitar Hero" was written on it. Ooh, nice! So they brought Guitar Hero. There were other tents too, though I didn't know what they were for. More games, I think.

Everybody was dressed up so nicely. Of course, there were some skanks but still… People looked so happy and cheerful that it made me smile. "Ne, Neji… Isn't it awesome?"

"I guess…" he replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Just enjoy something for once, won't you?"

Before I could answer, I felt someone tapping my shoulder. I turned around to see my visitor. Guess what, it was none other than Takumi!

"Hey." he greeted.

"Oh, hi." I said a little bit awkwardly. Then I realized that Neji was looking at me with a raised eyebrow and that I had forgotten to introduce them to each other. "Uh, Neji, this is Ren Takumi. He's a new student. I met him recently. And Takumi, this is Neji Hyuuga. My… apartment… building mate..?" I didn't know how to address Neji under these circumstances. And for some stupid reason, I was feeling nervous. Though Takumi didn't seem to feel so. He gave his hand to Neji. Neji hesitated for a moment but eventually they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, Hyuuga-kun." Takumi said.

"Me too." Neji mumbled. Takumi turned his attention to me.

"So, how are you doing, kitten?" …Eh? Kitten?

Once again, I felt Neji's suspicious eyes on me. Well, kitten was a weird way to address someone.

"I'm doing fine." I said. I looked at the people with him. "Who are they?" I had just realized them.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Takumi said. He pointed at the white haired pretty girl. "This is Cécile." She had very long hair and she had yellow eyes. She looked so delicate and elegant. She was wearing a white dress which was completed with her white hair.

"Enchantée!" she greeted. Oh, so she was French. Takumi then introduced the black haired, black eyed tall guy. "This is Meguro."

"Nice to meet you."

"And this is Hikaru." he said, showing the guy with the messy brown hair.

"It's a pleasure."

"So, are you new too?" I asked.

"No, they're only here for the festival."

"Oh, I see."

Then I felt Neji holding my forearm. "If it's over, we need to go now. You don't want to piss Ino off."

"You're right," I said. "See you guys later."

With that, we left the garden. Well, more like Neji dragged me. I was a little angry though.

"What is wrong with you? You're not at your usual self today!" I protested to his behavior.

"Hn." was the only answer I could get.

"You are so annoying!"

"Hn."

"Stop 'hn'ing me!"

"Hn."

"Damn you Hyuuga!"

I tried to get rid of his grip but it was tight. Then something unexpected happened. Neji turned me around to face him. His expression was something between angry and frustrated. I was so shocked that I couldn't even speak.

"If you want to spend your time with the shiny blonde and abandon the band, then go ahead. Naruto can still play guitar. He can replace with you."

I didn't get why he was angry. What did I do wrong? Did I say something bad? I don't get it.

"I…" I was speechless, indeed.

Neji looked into my eyes for a brief second, then let go. He walked towards the backstage. "Neji, wait!" I ran behind him.

When I got in the backstage, I saw everyone preparing themselves for the concert. Hinata and the others were helping them. Hinata saw and walked towards me.

"Tenten-chan, what's up with Neji-nii-san? Did something happen?"

"No idea." I shrugged. Hinata looked confused. I sighed. Now Neji was having mood swings, huh?

"Tenten, your hair is a mess!" Ino exclaimed suddenly. I jumped a little.

"Geez, Ino…" I checked myself on the mirror. It wasn't bad… It was just wavy because of the buns I wear all the times.

"Come here."

Ino started to straighten my hair with hair straightener (well yes, I'm Captain Obvious, thanks) while she was giving orders to others.

"Sakura, do Tenten's makeup. Hinata, bring the ribbons. They're in that box."

I was still wondering about Neji. He was already in a conversation with the boys though. He was acting as if nothing happened.

"Hey, Ino," I said, trying to make up a conversation. I was bored.

"What?" she asked. She was concentrated on her work.

"How long will the festival be?"

"Probably until night, 10 o'clock or something like that."

"That's one long festival!"

"Well, there are a lot of bands that will take stage today. After yours, you can go watch them too."

"Oh cool."

"By the way, what happened to Hyuuga?" Ino whispered so that Neji wouldn't hear her.

"I've been wondering the same thing too." I whispered too. Ino gave me a suspicious eye.

"Tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened!" I defended myself. "We came to the school, I came across with Takumi-"

"You mean that bishie?" Ino asked with wide eyes. "Oh wow… I've never thought that Neji-… Never mind."

"What? What?"

"Nothing important, Tennie. I think you'll understand soon."

"Damn you Ino, I hate it when you do that!"

"Less talking more working, come on!" Sakura interrupted. She had the makeup tools in her hand. "Time to decorate this panda!"

-x-

When Ino was done, I admitted to myself I was looking kinda cute. Thank god Sakura didn't put on much makeup on my face. Ino had put some frilly ribbons on my straightened hair. I smiled.

"Wow, guys. You're awesome." The others smiled also.

"Always, Tennie."

Sakura was all dressed up too. She wore mostly red and black. It looked cool.

"When is our time?" I asked.

"In about 30 minutes." Hinata replied, checking her watch.

"Oh? What time is it now?" Sakura asked.

"13:00"

"Wow, time flew by very fast!" I commented.

"I know, right?"

"Why don't we watch whichever band is on the stage right now?" Hinata offered.

"Okay!"

We started to watch the whole thing from the space between the backstage and the stage. I have never seen those people before. The band, I mean. I assumed they weren't from this school. If they were, I would've seen them at least once. They had such… memorable appearances.

"Hey, who are they?" I asked to Hinata. She frowned a little.

"I have no idea."

So they really weren't from this school. They were a three-man band. A blonde girl with four spiky ponytails was singing and playing guitar at the same time. A guy with red hair was playing bass and a brown-haired guy was on the drums. Their playing was intense. They had chosen somewhat heavy songs, such as Tourniquet from Evanescence. The girl's voice was strong. The redhead was really good at bass. He never made eye contact with the audience. He was completely concentrated on his playing.

After a few songs, they made their ending with Fully Alive from Flyleaf. It was a really strong song, a love it or hate it thing. I had to question if it was really the right choice to finish the performance.

_Fully alive, more than most  
Ready to smile, and love life  
Fully alive, and she knows  
How to believe in futures_

The crowd cheered for them. They thanked and left the stage. They were coming towards us. The redhead looked at us for a brief second, and then kept walking. The girl and the other guy stopped though.

"Is it your turn next?" the blondie asked.

"No, our turn is after another band." Sakura said, pointing at the four guys who were waiting for their turn.

"Well, too bad. We wanted to see the legendary Konoha band." the brown-haired smirked. _Legendary? _"I guess we'll have to wait a little bit more. Oh, I'm sorry. We should've introduced ourselves. I'm Kankurou and this is Temari."

Temari just nodded her head a little. She was pretty, I must say. And I guessed she was older than us. Maybe two years older?

"I'm Tenten." I said, shaking Kankurou's and Temari's hands. The others introduced themselves too. Kankurou seemed to be a happy and cheerful guy, though he reminded me of Kiba and Naruto. Temari was a hotheaded one, even though she didn't show it first. You could understand if you her relationship with Kankurou. _Sigh…_

"Hey, who was the other guy?" Ino asked, curious.

"Gaara? He is our little brother." Temari said.

"He plays good." I commented.

"Yeah, but he's antisocial." Kankurou said.

"Don't talk like that, Kankurou!" Temari warned her brother.

"Hai, hai…"

"Shh, the other band has taken the stage."

We watched them until our turn came. They were good, but not that good.

"Guys, your turn!" Ino yelled to us. I, Sakura, Sasuke, Neji and Naruto stiffened and stood up. Was it our time to rock? Hell yeah is was!

-x-

I made the start with Kryptonite's beginning guitar riff. Then Sasuke with the drums. And Naruto. Here it comes, the chorus.

_If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?  
If I'm alive and well, will you be there-a holding my hand?  
I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might  
Kryptonite  
Yeaah!_

I looked at Neji to see how he was doing. Well, to be frank, I didn't expect him to be nervous or something. I just wondered how he 'rocked' on the stage because even though I saw him playing many times, I've never seen him on stage.

He looked cool. This was the only word I could find for him. He was playing like John Myung*. Silent, dangerous, cool… sexy… Wow, did I really say that? What the…?

This was a rather popular song, so the crowd was singing with us. Naruto was doing a good job, entertaining the audience.

When it was over, I and Sakura took the mic. I gave my guitar to Naruto. Sakura was still on the keyboard though. It was our song: Don't Say Lazy!

_Please don't say you are lazy  
Because I'm going crazy  
Even the graceful swan  
Will trash her legs around  
when she's swimming in the water_

…

_Maybe now you're gonna open up your eyes__  
__Take me as I am, and don't delude yourself with lies__  
__Take a chance, come on, let's see what you're made of  
Go chase a dream, come on, there's nothing to be scared of_

Maybe neither Sakura nor I was the best singer in the world, but we were doing it pretty good. This song didn't require a very strong voice.

When we were playing _Hotel California_, some people danced while some people sang along. Then we performed _God Bless, Losing My Religion, Diary of Jane _and _Savin' Me_.

Then on to my favorite song in this playlist: Space Dye Vest.

_Love is an act of blood and I'm bleeding__  
__A pool in the shape of a heart__  
__Beauty projection in the reflection__  
__Always the worst way to start__  
_…

_And I'll smile and I'll learn to pretend__  
__And I'll never be open again__  
__And I'll have no more dreams to defend__  
__And I'll never be open again__  
_

That is the saddest song ever… Beautiful lyrics, amazing melody… And surprisingly, Naruto's voice was coherent with the song. Everyone was brought to tears at the end. I looked at Neji again. He had the same emotionless face like always, but I could see that he was moved by this song too. Suddenly, I felt my face blushing. I don't know why! It's just that Neji was so… attractive. Can it be? Did I actually…? Nah, impossible.

Neji looked at me as if he felt that I was staring at him. Our eyes contacted for a moment but I quickly turned my eyes to the crowd. I knew that he had a question mark on his face. I was almost entirely sure that he was wondering why I was acting so strange. I didn't know either! Before I could even think of anything else, the other song, _My Immortal_ had started. Sakura was singing this.

_When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have all of me_

The lyrics made me think of Neji. He fought with my fears which I showed only to him. He held my hand, helped me ever since I came here. And…

Stop!

Why? Why was I thinking of him, _in the middle of a performance?_ Sure, he was a good friend, maybe my best friend, but it was certainly no excuse to think like this. But I couldn't help it. He was… he was…

Oops!

It was my turn to play the solo. I should clear my thoughts. I didn't want to fail him – no, the band! I didn't want to fail the band! Damn!

After the song was finished, I didn't even dare to look at him. I didn't want to confuse myself any more. Oh crap, it was the turn for _Eternal Love. I mustn't look at him!_

I was singing it. I, once again, gave my guitar to Naruto and grabbed the mic. Here goes nothing…

_So that my love with you would always continue this way  
I pray to the night sky, these hands cannot part_

…

_Those casual days were repeating, unafraid of anything  
Being able to welcome tomorrow together was something natural, right?  
Being protected by strong eyes, it would have been great if time could stop now  
I want to see the face illuminated by lots of lights_

Ugh, why did we choose songs with such lyrics like these? It was my fault though. I was the one who offered this.

Neji… We were always welcoming those repeating casual days together. We were having fun. Our food fights, arguments, jokes… I couldn't stop myself, I took a peek at his face, enlightened by spotlights. And his eyes… being protected… I'm ashamed to admit, but I was feeling protected when I was around him. It happened when we were stuck in the elevator. And it also happened whenever we were coming back to our homes together.

Enough!

Enough…

_Because I don't want to part with my love with you__  
__I swear to the night sky, that these hands, would not part again_

After singing the last part, I felt relieved. Our performance was over, finally! We left the stage. I was lost in deep thoughts. What the hell happened to me? I didn't like this! Then I remembered today. Neji got angry at me for some reason. Ino had wanted to tell me something, but didn't because 'I would understand soon enough'. I wonder if… she meant he was jealous? No way! No effin way! Neji was emotionless, there's no way-

Then I bumped into someone. I felt my stomach do a backflip. I thought it was Neji, like **always** happens in the movies. Turned out he was Sasuke.

"Oh, Sasuke…" You can't imagine how relieved I was.

"Tenten? Are you alright?"

"Uh, of course! I'm super alright! Why wouldn't I be?" I forced myself to laugh. Sasuke didn't buy it, of course. However he didn't say anything, he only raised a brow. I ignored him and made my way inside the girls' room.

I saw Neji just as he was entering the boys' changing room. Good, I needed him to be out of the picture for a while. I needed time to think.

I checked the clock inside the girls' dressing room. It was 16.29. I had five and a half hours of this torture. Just awesome…

**Did you like the chapter? How was it? I personally like this. I'm sorry if Tenten came to realize her feelings too suddenly, but I was getting bored of the plot. Nothing was happening. And to tell the truth, I had difficulties writing this chapter. For some reason, my brain didn't function, so I thinks there are a _lot of_ grammar mistakes. Don't hesitate to tell me my mistakes. But you already know that, right? :3**

**I want to use this section like a journal, but it'd be boring. So, I'll start to use my livejournal account. If you are bored, or want to know if there are any updates, check my account. I haven't written anything since December but I'll use it tomorrow. :D**

**Anyway, ciao! **

**(*): John Myung is the bassist of Dream Theater who plays six string bass guitar.**


	11. November Fest Part 2 and Family Issues

**Hello people! New chappie, yay! And long too! Lately I've been writing kinda long chapters.**

**I haven't read this over, so I don't know if it's confusing. Feel free to ask if you have questions, okay?**

**And review, please! Because I love you guys! :D**

**Enjoy!**

We left the backstage to have some fun. There were a lot of things to do, you didn't think that we'd just stay there, did you?

Now on the stage, there was a girls group which were singing and dancing with SNSD's "Gee". We decided to walk around a little.

"Hey, why don't we play some of these games?" Naruto asked in an eager tone. I looked at the stands. There were a duck hunting game, a fish catching game and a lot of games of that kind.

"ASOBITAI!" I shouted as I was running to the duck hunting game. That game was so easy! I've always done a very good job on this game. Shooting wooden ducks with a toy rifle? Nothing for me!

"Watch and learn." I told my friends as I grabbed a rifle. I gave his money to the man and started shooting the ducks. I didn't miss a single one. I admit I have a pretty good aim. Actually, I'm proud of it. But it doesn't help in real life. If I were a ninja, though… Hehe.

I admit I was partly doing this to… erm, impress Hyuuga. I don't know why I wanted to do it, but it seemed like I was successful. I looked at his face from the corner of my eye. He was watching with mild interest, his head tilted to his right a little. Oh god, that cute stoic..! WhaddidIsay? Forget it!

"Yes!" I shouted when I shot the last duck. Then I realized that people had gathered around me, watching my performance. I could tell they were shocked. Well, I guess they didn't expect a girl like me to be so good. But you should've seen the face of the clerk. I laughed at his shocked expression.

"I guess I ruined your job, huh?" I asked, smirking.

The man blinked once. "Not really. You've gathered quite a crowd, actually." He smirked back to me.

"Well, I'm happy that I could be of help."

"So, what do you want as the price?" he asked, showing the plushies. There was a pink rabbit, a cow, a dog and a panda. Which one do you think I chose? Panda, of course!

"This is so cute!" I squeaked, hugging the panda. Kiba rolled his eyes.

"What's so cute about pandas, I don't get it." he said.

"Shut up, dog-boy." I retorted.

We left that place. It was getting more crowded every minute. When we decided to have some crepe, a little girl showed up.

"Um, Tenten-san, can I have an autograph?"

…What?

Sakura and the others giggled while I was trying to understand what the meaning of this was. Sakura answered for me. "Of course you can. C'mon Tenten, just an autograph."

"Uh… I… Alright…"

I was so embarrassed but I did it anyway. The girl seemed so happy when I gave the autograph to her.

"Thank you so much!" she chirped and sped off.

I looked at my friends with a confused look. "What was that?"

"It's only getting started, dear." Sakura teased.

"You'll have fans, now that you play in a band – a good one, I must say." Hinata commented.

"So expect to have some fanboys." Ino giggled.

"But they're persistent, so be careful." Naruto said, protectively.

"Oh, okay…" I said, scratching my neck. "You guys seem experienced."

"Pretty much." Sasuke murmured. This time Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You had fangirls even before you joined the band."

"Yes but I'm still experienced." Sasuke said.

"Okay, okay. I get it." I huffed.

As to prove them right, after a while, I overheard some people talking.

"Dude, the Sand group was so awesome! Did you see that singer chick? She had such a strong voice." One boy was saying.

"Oh, I'm not sure her voice was the only thing that piqued your interest." A black haired girl teased.

"Never mind that, Konoha band was the best! They have a new guitarist. She can sing too!" Another boy told his friends.

"Oh dear…" The girl rolled her eyes. "You'd better not start fanboying."

"What? Like you didn't fangirl to _Naruto_ of all people!" the first boy mocked.

"It wasn't _fangirling_! I only said that Naruto is the most sincere of them all."

"Whatever." The second guy said. He must have felt someone looking at them, so he looked around to see who it was. I quickly turned back. I hope he didn't see me. How embarrassing…

I collected myself when I heard Neji's voice. "Come on, Tenten…" he groaned, grabbing my forearm. That's when I realized that our friends had already sped off.

"Ah… Alright."

-x-

_Where are they? _I was getting angry. We couldn't find our friends. What I mean by we was, Neji and I! I didn't know why but my heart was beating a little too fast. Maybe because we ran around, searching our friends. We searched everywhere, but couldn't find them. And they wouldn't answer my calls. Like they were… doing it on purpose…

My eyes widened at the thought. What if it was? But… how could it be? I mean, I didn't even tell them anything! I bet it was Ino's idea! I'm so gonna kill her when she gets here!

Then we heard people cheering and shouting. There must be a new band on the stage. Wanting to break the awkwardness (well, awkward for me, not the Hyuuga), I offered him to go and watch.

"Why not." was his response. Oh, good. Now I didn't have to talk.

We made our way to the stage. I looked at the band and my eyes widened as my mouth opened it surprise.

"Isn't that Takumi?" Neji asked in an emotionless tone.

It was! He and his friends were on the stage. Cécile was the singer. She looked like a white angel. That black haired Meguro guy was playing the drums and the other guy, Hikaru, was playing the guitar. But the most surprising thing was that Takumi was playing _violin. In a rock band._ What?

Cécile bowed to the crowd and waved her hand. "Are you ready?" she asked through the mic. Her speaking wasn't bad at all. She barely had a French accent. Or she was good at hiding it. "One two three, _go!"_

The start was harsh, or more like powerful. A second after that, violin came in. Oh god, it was extreme. Then Cécile started to sing.

_Is it true, what they say?  
Are we too blind to find a way?  
Fear of the unknown cloud our hearts today.  
Come into my world  
See through my eyes  
Try to understand  
Don't want to lose what we have…_

I realized that the song was _See Who I Am _by Within Temptation. Cécile's voice was just as strong as Temari's. But hers reached higher notes, which was necessary for this song.

Then, the intense violin solo again… They all were talented, I must say. But Cécile and Takumi was gathering more attention. Cécile, with her awesome voice and Takumi, with his unique violin playing.

After the song was finished, I looked at Neji. He was watching the band with no expression on his face.

Neji felt me looking at him and turned towards me with demanding eyes. I felt uncomfortable. I shifted my weight to my other leg.

"What are you looking at me for?" Neji asked, annoyed.

"Nothing." I murmured, my eyes on the stage.

Just as the band started to play a new song, I felt my phone vibrate. It was… mom?

"Just a minute, Neji. I gotta take this." I excused myself and ran to a quieter place. I saw from the corner of my eye that he followed me. As if he was trying to make sure nothing happened to me.

-x-

"**WHAT?"**

"…"

"I'll be there! Just… just don't let something happen!"

Mom was about to object but I didn't wait for mom's response, I closed my phone in panic.

Neji came near. "What-?"

I pushed Neji aside and rushed towards the exit. I had to push people to open my way but I didn't care. _Home… I need to go back…_ That was the only thing on my mind. _Dad…_

"Tenten!" I heard Neji calling out but it didn't stop me.

I was running towards my home as fast as I could. Neji started to catch up with me. I opened the main gate when I arrived and threw myself in the elevator. Neji was just a few seconds late and I heard him cursing. He took the stairs instead.

I nearly broke the door's keyhole but I managed to get into my home. Neji put his feet between the door and himself and followed me.

"Tenten, what's going on?"

I didn't answer. I rushed in to my room. I started to package my stuff, which surprised Neji so much. I felt his hands over my wrists.

"Let… go!" I struggled, but he didn't let go. He forced me to look at him.

"Tenten, what happened? What did your mother tell you? Why are you packaging your stuff?"

"I… only need some money and a t-shirt. Please let me go, I'll tell you later."

"Tenten!"

I looked into his eyes. He was worried. Yes, worried. But I was being frantic. He stared a little bit more. He was trying to understand my weird behavior. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"I'm coming with you."

"What? But-!"

"Don't worry about the money. You'll pay back later. Just grab a bag and let's go the airport." He turned his back and got out of the room. I was too shocked to say anything. Neji was coming with me? To Whirlpool? Was he insane?

"Are you crazy? You'll go to Whirlpool just because of me? At eight pm?"

He looked at me. "It wouldn't be nice if I let you go alone. If something happens, I'll be the one responsible."

"Wha-!"

"Let's go already!"

With that, I nodded my head and prepared a small bag.

-x-

We were sitting in the waiting longue. I was playing with the hem of my shirt. I was feeling like I forced Neji to come with me.

"Now, will you tell me what happened?" he questioned, looking at my face. I didn't look at him. I felt my eyes get teary.

"Mom called me." I told in a low voice. "She was calm. She's always calm. But I could hear that she was worried. The she said that my dad's condition… had gotten worse."

"His condition?"

"My dad has… he has… cancer."

We both didn't talk. I was holding my tears back and Neji had realized it, so he wasn't pushing it. But I forced myself to talk. For some reason, talking was helping me. "She said that I shouldn't come but… she told me to be prepared for… anything that could happen to him. So, I…"

I couldn't finish the sentence. He got it though. This could be the last time… I sniffled.

"They are your adoptive parents, aren't they?" he asked.

"Yes, but I love them like my real ones. They took care of me ever since my real parents… passed away." I managed to say.

Neji looked at me for a second, then he closed his eyes and leaned back. I felt something heavy on top of my head. Neji's hand… He petted me like a cat.

"Don't worry. It'll be alright, _Kitten._"

It was obvious he was trying to make me smile by saying that last word. I smiled at him weakly.

"Thank you, Neji."

-x-

Neji was watching outside while I was listening to music with my iPod in the plane. Neji had gotten us business class tickets. Geez, how was I supposed to pay that back later?

But to tell the truth, it made me relaxed. Business class was so comfortable. I've always flown in economy. There was a huge difference.

I decided to sleep since there were two hours left.

When I woke up, I realized that I was – guess what? – sleeping against Neji's shoulder. Ten points for you if you've seen that coming!

"Uh…" I moaned, getting up. But then I noticed that he was sleeping too. Aww, he had such a peaceful and innocent when he was sleeping. Without thinking, I raised my hand and touched his cheek ever so slightly. He was so warm. I doubt he felt my touch, though. I checked my watch. It was 21.49. Ten minutes to go…

Neji woke up five minutes after. "Are we there?"

"Almost." I answered.

-x-

"Mom!" I threw myself out of the taxi, and hugged my mom tightly in front of the hospital. I left Neji to pay the money. I was going to pay back once we went back.

"Tenten! Oh dear god, you're okay!"

"Why were you worried about me? How's dad?"

"Same…" she said. I looked at her. He was sleepless, her hair was tangled and she hadn't taken a shower for a few days. _Not good…_ I thought. Mom looked at Neji, who was standing behind.

"A friend of yours?" she asked.

"Yes…" I replied. Mom smiled as sweetly as she could at Neji.

"Hello, young man. Thank you for escorting my daughter here."

"It was a pleasure, madam." Neji bowed slightly. But I couldn't stand the formalities more. Apologizing, I ran inside the hospital. In that rush, I had forgotten to ask which room my father was staying at. Mom rushed behind me, catching up.

"Follow me." she said.

When we got into the room, I saw my dad lying on a hospital bed. I quickly went to his side. He was sleeping.

"Dad…" I whispered, taking his hand. Both Neji and mom were standing on the doorway, watching me. I turned my attention back to my dad. If something were to happen to him…

"Dad, please be alright…"

I couldn't say more. Not when Neji and mom were watching me. Not when he was fast asleep – it was like he was in a coma. Coming here and seeing he was still breathing was enough. Then I realized that I was tired. My digital clock was showing 22.11. I stood up.

"Mom, can I stay for a few days?" I asked, coming near her. Mom smiled.

"Of course, dear."

"Thanks." I tried to smile back. Seeing her trying to be tough was hard. I swallowed. "I'll take my leave now."

Mom turned her attention to Neji, who was being quiet all this time. "If you want to, you can stay with us."

"Thank you, but I don't want to be a burden." Neji said. How politic.

"Please don't talk like that." Mom said. "Giving Ten-chan's friend a place to stay is the least I can do to thank for escorting her here."

"Come on, Neji." I grabbed his hand and pulled him behind me. Mom followed us. She said she'll drop us at home. "But I'll have to go back to hospital." She added.

Her car was in the parking lot. We got in and made our way to home.

My home… It felt like it had been years. I quickly got to my room. It hadn't changed one bit. Everything was same. It was clean too. Mom always kept everything clean. She was some kind of a neat freak.

"I'll go now, kids. Remember, there's food in the fridge. Heat it up and eat. Don't eat junk food, like pizza. Bye!"

Classic mom…

Neji and I sat in silence in my room for a while. Then he spoke. "Your visit was short."

"All I needed was to be sure he was alright. When you have a father with cancer, you can't be sure when his… breathing will stop." I murmured the last part but Neji seemed to hear me. I raised my head up. "I told you that you shouldn't have come. You probably think that I'm overreacting."

"Don't be ridiculous." was his answer. "Family is important." He was looking at the floor. I could see his teeth clenched.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, nothing important to tell. Especially not right now. And I think you should go to sleep. You must be tired."

"Same goes for you too, Hyuuga."

I insisted on sleeping on the floor mat, but he utterly rejected. So I crawled into my bed while he was lying down on the ground.

"Night, Hyuuga."

"Good night, Tenten."

I closed my eyes to get some sleep, but I couldn't. Images from my childhood were coming in front of my eyes. Sad things… About my real parents and my adoptive parents… I felt a tear dropping on my pillow, wetting it. Then more came. So silent, but so hurting. Then, I felt something – no, someone's hand – on my back.

"Tell me, Tenten."

Neji…

I didn't respond, I just curled into a ball inside the sheets. "Leave me alone." I whispered. I heard him sighing.

He held my shoulders and forced me to straighten up. When I looked at his worried eyes, I just couldn't hold it anymore. I started crying silently in his shoulder, wrapping my arms around him tightly. Like I guessed, he wasn't used to this kind of touch, so he was surprised. He was stiff. But didn't push me off or something like that. I buried my face into his shoulder. It was safe… comforting… relaxing…

"If I tell you, you'll tell me about you too." I stipulated, holding my head up to see his face. Neji looked hesitant. But he slowly nodded his head.

"Deal."

**Oh, I love high school drama. And fluff of course! Haha, how was it? We're finally going to see the reason behind Tenten's claustrophobia. :D**

**I was actually gonna write November Fest Part 2 and Family Issues separately but decided not to. It wasn't necessary, I guess. **

**By the way, is there anyone following my livejournal to see if I'll update the story or not? If there isn't, then there's no reason to write there, right? :D So, if you want me to keep writing what am I up to, let me know. kthxbai.**

**I'm sixteen now! Woo hoo! I'm feeling so happy! And there's only a month left until my summer break! Isn't that just awesome? I'm feeling so happy lately!**

**Well, that's all for now. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to sleep. **

**See you guys!**

**Pleaaase review! 3**


	12. Returning

**Uh, I'm not dead. I feel like that, but I certainly am not :D Finally managed to finish this chapter. It's not even that long! Ah, I'm a failure! Whatever :D**

**I won't chit-chat so that you can read ^^**

**Enjoy!**

_Nine Years Ago_

"Mom!" eight year old Tenten called. She had just come from school. She put her bag on the staircase and ran into the kitchen. "Mom!" There was no response. Instead, she heard someone whispering.

"Please, not right now… I know, I know… Just give me a few days… I…" Tenten's mother was talking on the phone. As soon as she saw Tenten, she hung up the phone. "Ten-dear!"

"Mommy, who was that?" Tenten asked with innocent big eyes. "What's wrong?"

The woman took a deep breath and forced herself to smile. "Nothing, honey. I'll prepare your dinner right now."

_She never had the chance to do that…_

Suddenly, the door barged open and three men stepped inside. More like, one of them was being dragged by the other two.

"Leave them alone!" the man who was being dragged along was yelling. "I swear if you touch them-!"

"Shut up!" one of them punched him. Tenten was shocked to see this. The man who was forced into the house was her father!

"Daddy? Are you alright?" Tenten tried to run to his father but her mother stopped her.

"Get out of my house!" she snapped at the men.

"Oh, but you know we can't do that," one of them said. "Boss' orders."

That man took out a knife. Now Tenten was afraid. She was extremely scared. "Mommy?"

"Go inside, Tenten," her mother ordered. Tenten was too scared to disobey, so she went to her room. For hours, she stayed there. She swore to herself not to come out until mommy or daddy came. It was finally dark. Night was coming. Still there wasn't any sign of peace. Tenten could hear her parents shout. Tenten couldn't get up to turn on the lights. She just sat there, in darkness. She was alright with it, since she didn't believe ghosts or supernatural things like that. _If only she knew what was going to happen next…_

The door opened harshly and Tenten's father quickly took her into his arms. "Run…" Then a loud – gunshot like – voice was heard. Tenten's father dropped her on the floor. He squeezed her hand once last time then collapsed on the floor, on Tenten's little fragile body. Tenten was crushed under his weight and she didn't understand why her loving father did that. She saw the door closing.

No! She had to get up, her instincts were telling her to run away. Far away. But she couldn't.

"Daddy? Daddy?" she tried to wake his father up, but failed. He wouldn't move a muscle. That's when Tenten saw blood dripping from his shirt. Her eyes widened. Even little, innocent Tenten knew what blood was. "No… NO!" she yelled, struggling to get up. Then another voice was heard, a door was locked. Her door… They locked her inside!

She struggled harder, and finally managed to free herself. What she saw was simply cruel. Her father was on the floor, his back was covered in red liquid. Tenten was horrified. She needed her mother. Her mother would make everything right, she always did. Tenten needed her to wake her father up and clean this red liquid from his back. She refused to believe it was blood.

She ran to the door. It was locked. "Mommy!" her terrified scream echoed in the room, but no one came. "Mommy, help me! Please!"

She punched the door, kicked it but she was too weak to break it or the lock. She had been in that room for hours and she had to get out, fast!

Everything she did was in vain. The walls were drawing near, like they were going to crash her. She let out a scream and crawled behind the door. She couldn't breathe properly.

A long time had passed – Tenten had no idea how many hours she spent there. But before everything disappeared into the darkness, all she could see was his father and the walls coming towards her…

-x-

"Then I opened my eyes in a hospital. I couldn't remember what happened to me, I think it is some sort of a defense mechanism. Then, I learned that my adoptive parents found me. The doctor told me that due to staying in the dark room for many hours, I had developed a fear for darkness and closed places – nyctophobia and claustrophobia. Years after, I learned something else from my adoptive parents… I learned that my parents were killed by a gang. For reasons that I never found out."

Neji and I were sitting across each other on my childhood bed. I had finally told everything to someone. You know what, it felt good. Like a boulder on my shoulders had gone.

"That's… rough…" Neji said thoughtfully. I could see he was feeling sorry for me. I didn't like it. I didn't want to be seen as someone to pity. Especially not by Neji.

"But I got better." I added, flashing a faint smile. Now that I had told everything, I was feeling better.

"Really?" Neji asked suspiciously, it was obvious he didn't believe me.

"Yes. But I cherish my father – my adoptive father – more than anything because he was the one to find me. This is why I was feeling so down and upset when I learned that his condition had gotten worse." I explained.

"I see," was Neji's only reply. I wasn't feeling happy in particular but I couldn't help but laugh. Neji's social skills, or lack thereof, was too funny. Neji sent me an offended look.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing, nothing." I smirked.

"I see you're feeling better now," Neji raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely!"

"That's one huge mood swing, you know."

"Well, I can't help it. Girls are known by their mood swings."

"Are you sure you don't have bipolar disorder?"

"Yup, I'm sure."

Neji rolled his eyes. He rolled down from the bed to his floor mat. "Good night, Tenten."

I giggled. "Nighty, Neji."

I leaned back but didn't close my eyes. I was staring at the ceiling.

"Hey Neji," I whispered after a while. He didn't respond. But I knew he was awake. Almost like I could feel it.

"Thank you…

This time, he replied. "For what?"

"For listening… for making me feel good… for coming here… for being my friend… for everything…"

Once again, a silent tear rolled down from my eye. But I wasn't feeling sad. I was confused. Why was I crying?

"I can never understand your mood swings," he said, almost like he saw me crying. I could swear he was smiling.

"Shut up, Hyuuga."

-x-

"You know what, Hyuuga, I'm glad you're here. After all, who else would manage to buy business class tickets for us?" I snickered, making myself comfortable in my seat.

We had stayed there for two days and now we were going back to Konoha. The next day Monday so we had to go back. Of course, our friends were worried sick about us so we had to call them before. Ino and Sakura scolded me very much and Hinata kept saying that I was so reckless to do something like that. And needless to say, they were even more surprised when I told them that Neji was with me. Oh god, I knew there was going to be a rain of questions!

I glanced at Neji, who had his eyes closed, leaning back. I smiled slightly. If it weren't for him…

"What is it, Tenten?" Neji half-opened his eyes, looking at me.

"What? Nothing!" I turned my head towards the window, I didn't want him to see my cheeks, er, pink. What was wrong with me?

The plane took flight. While looking down from the window, I started to rethink what happened these two days. My father… He was alright, thank goodness.

_Flashback_

"_Tenten?"_

"_Daddy!" I ran to him, hugging him. "I missed you so much!"_

"_I missed you too, Ten-dear. You came all this way for me? You shouldn't have done it. As you can see, it takes a lot to bring me down."_

"_You're right dad, but I should've seen it myself." I giggled._

"_Are you relieved now?"_

"_Very much."_

_Dad smiled at me. Then his eyes lingered on the long haired boy who was standing next to the door – Neji._

"_Who is that?" he asked, looking at him._

"_Uhh, he is… a friend of mine." I explained. Inside, I was panicking. What if my dad didn't approve of Neji? What if he thought that Neji was my boyfriend? What if-?_

"_Really?" dad asked, a hint of amusement in his voice._

"_Um, yeah. When I got really upset about you and decided to come here, he was with me and he supported me." For some reason, I got defensive of Neji._

_But dad didn't do anything that I expected. Instead, he chuckled and said, "He seems nice. I'd say don't miss him."_

"_Dad, that's so embarrassing!" _

_Dad chuckled once again and ruffled my hair. "I'm only kidding. I just want to… be a good father that cares about his daughter. But because of my condition, I feel like I can't."_

_My eyes started to get wet. "You are a great father, dad. You're irreplaceable. I love you so much. "_

"_I love you too, Ten-dear. Do your best at school, okay?"_

_Flashback ends_

"You aren't off the hook, you know." I murmured suddenly, still watching outside. Neji's eyes were closed but I was sure he could hear me very well.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't tell me about yourself. We made a deal."

Neji opened his eyes and looked at me. "Tenten, I know we made a deal but I have no other reason to tell it to you."

My eyes widened. "And you're going to go just like that? Without telling? You promised, Neji!" I wasn't sure why I was making such a fuss about it. I just needed to get to know Neji better. He knew a lot about me, so I wanted to know him too.

Neji sighed. "I really don't want to do this right now. Can't I do it later?"

"Nejiii," I whined.

He didn't respond this time. Oh god, he's so stubborn! He won't get away with this, I swear.

I made a 'hmph' sound and took out my iPod. Some music would do nice right now. I browsed through the songs and decided on Grenade by Bruno Mars. Ahh, such beautiful lyrics!

_I would go through all this pain,__  
__Take a bullet straight through my brain,__  
__Yes, I would die for ya baby;__  
__But you won't do the same_

-x-

As soon as we came out of the airport, we heard some shoutings.

"TENTEN!"

"Neji!"

"Where the hell were you?"

When we looked at the source of the noise, we saw our friends. Sakura ran and hugged me, almost crashing me on the ground.

"Ouch, Sakura!"

"Dammit Tenten, how dare you leave us and go like that? Without even asking?"

"Gee, sorry mom! I won't do it again."

Ino practically did the same while the guys were greeting Neji. They weren't making such a big deal out of this. I was jealous of Neji. He wasn't under questioning!

"Tenten-chan, we were worried sick about you!" Hinata said, hugging me very tightly. "You should've at least called!"

"Sorry," I said, rubbing my neck.

"We'll talk to you later, little miss," Ino threatened. Oh god…

"By the way, what are you guys doing here at this hour?" Neji asked a very reasonable question.

"What do you think? We're here to pick up our friends of course!" Sakura retorted.

"You didn't need to-"

"Oh, shut up Hyuuga," Kiba said, waving his hand.

Naruto popped the gum that he was chewing. "I told you they wouldn't like it."

"Shut up, Naruto," I said this time. "Can we go now? I'm really sleepy."

"Okay, okay…"

Our friends escorted us until the front door of our apartment building. The girls and I decided to go to a café after school tomorrow and then we said goodbye.

When Neji and I got in the elevator, I leaned against it. "I'm really tired."

"Tell me about it."

For a few seconds, we were silent. Then Neji asked. "You're okay now, right?"

I grinned. "I'm perfect." Then the elevator made a "ding" noise. Oh, so we came to Neji's floor. Time to say goodbye to my companion.

Though I didn't say anything. With a sudden urge, I threw my arms around him, hugging him. I've gotten used to hugging him by now. Haha!

"Once again, thank you so much for everything, Hyuuga. Thanks to you, I'm a lot better." I pulled back and saw his confused face. I couldn't hold back my laughter. It was such a cute face he was making! "See you later!" I pushed him out of the elevator.

I had a huge grin on my lips until I got into home and threw myself to bed. I giggled whenever I remembered his face. It was so irresistible! Then slowly, I drifted off a tight sleep with full of dreams.

**I had a feeling that the previous chapter had too much drama and I didn't like it when I read it for the second time. And also, I want to thank for the reviews of previous chapter. I was feeling very depressed and they made me happy. You guys are awesome!**

**My exam week ended today. ****ARGH! Finally it's over! I can't believe the school is over! (Not literally, but I won't go from now on ^_^ So it's over for me.)**

**I'm sorry I had to make you guys wait so long but I've been going through a lot, I hope you can understand me. And I **think** that the story is getting a little tiny bit better, right? :D**

**And please do tell if Tenten's past was confusing. You can ask questions however you want. I'll gladly answer them all :D**

**Please do not forget to review! Even if it's only one word, you can't imagine how happy I am when I see them! :D**

**I love you guys!**


	13. Under the Rain

No POV

Hinata checked herself once more in the mirror. She was thinking about her cousin and her friend, Tenten. They had gone to Whirlpool without even saying something. Hinata found this daring, yet exciting. Never once in her life she could think that her cousin would go to Whirlpool just to escort somebody. The boy she knew didn't care much about the others, let alone comforting them. But somehow, Tenten had changed Neji. Hinata was aware of this fact and she was happy for Neji. Because Neji was finally getting out of his shell.

"Hinata, you are going to be late!" she heard someone calling from downstairs. Her personal maid…

"Okay, I'm coming!"

She took her backpack and rushed downstairs. "I'm off!" she shouted and hurried outside. As she was walking along the road, she heard someone calling her name.

"Hinataaa!"

Her heart stopped beating for a second. "N-Naruto-kun!"

Naruto was riding a bicycle. He stopped riding and tried to catch his breath. "So, what's up?" he asked after he was okay.

"N-not much. I-"_Don't stutter!_

"Hey, do you always go down this road?"

"Yes, usually." Wow, she talked without stammering! She congratulated herself even though she only said two simple words.

"Then why haven't I seen you here before? My house is a few streets behind. I always take this road to school."

"R-really?" _Oh great, the stutter…_ "I didn't know. I usually go school very early, th-that could be the reason. Though I'm late today."

Naruto's eyes shined and a smile spread around his face. "Oh, alright! Then I'll go early too, so that we can go together! You know, I always get bored when I'm going to the school. A companion could be nice!"

Hinata was starting to feel dizzy. "I-I see…" She couldn't come up with a better response.

"Hey, we're gonna be late, why don't you jump on my bike? I can carry you. It'll be a lot faster."

Now, she was feeling like her heart was going fly to the skies. "I-I can't accept that." _If you don't want me to faint._

"Hmm, then we'll be late. Doesn't matter for me, I'm always late. But you'll be in trouble. You're an A student, you have a reputation to protect, right?"

"It's alright." Hinata fiddled with her fingers. "I think I can make it if I move fast enough."

Then Naruto got off of his bike. "Okay, let's run!"

"Eh?"

"I'll give you a head start. One, two-"

"What about the bike?" Hinata asked quickly.

"I'll ride it by hand! Now, one, two, three!"

She started to run. A few seconds later, when she turned back to see Naruto, she saw that he had started to run too. She giggled and quickened her steps. Naruto was starting to catch up with her.

Hinata was too happy to realize that Neji – her overprotective cousin – had seen them entering the school together.

-x-

Tenten POV

"Neji! Don't be an idiot and calm down!"

I was holding Neji's arm to prevent him from going to kill Naruto. Geez, this was too cliché even for my own likings.

"Stop playing the overprotective brother! We're going to be late."

"That's your fault." Neji grumbled, but stopped struggling.

"I overslept, so what? It's not like I wanted to be late or something!"

Neji sighed. "Let's go to the class."

"Finally," I rolled my eyes.

Inwardly, I was cheering for Hinata. She was so happy with Naruto that I became happy too. I have to question her later. Why did she come with Naruto today, anyway?

In class, I sat next to Ino. I was grinning because of Hinata, and Ino didn't miss that.

"Spill it, Panda."

"How did you know?"

Ino shrugged. "Ino instincts."

"Shouldn't that be woman instincts?"

"I'm different. I have a very sharp sixth sense. Now, tell it."

"Well today, our little Hinata came to school with – guess who? Naruto!"

"Whaat?" Ino asked, amazed. "That is great! But… how come? They don't live close to each other. Naruto's house is pretty far from hers."

"Really?

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, it doesn't matter. Seeing Hinata happy, made me happy too."

"What, did you start to have hopes about Neji?"

"Huh?" I asked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"

Ino sighed. "Nothing, nothing…"

-x-

_Lunch_

"Excuse me, can I borrow Hinata for a second?" I asked the group, grinning deviously.

"H-huh? For what?" Hinata asked. I gave her a mysterious look.

"Interrogation."

Ino smirked at me as I pulled Hinata behind me.

"Sooo, what's up with Naruto?"

She blushed hard. She avoided eye contact with me and didn't answer.

"C'mon Hina. I'm too curious. Pleaaase!"

"Actually, nothing is up." Hinata finally spoke. "We just encountered each other on the street. Then we came to school together. Nothing happened."

I eyed her suspiciously. "Really now? But that's strange. According to Ino, Naruto's house it pretty far away from the Hyuuga mansion. You should've known that too."

Hinata's eyes widened as the reality 'clicked' in her head.

"Wh-what does that mean?"

"That means he, with a 95% possibility(that was according to Ino), likes you. So he left his house earlier than ever, rode his bike to the Hyuuga mansion then pretended like it was a coincidence."

Hinata looked like she could faint at any moment. "Th-that c-can't be t-true!" she almost yelled, very uncharacteristically.

"Shh… Do you want them to hear us?"

She gulped. "What do I do? What do I do?"

I gave her a dull look. "Of course you'll pretend like you don't know what he's doing. Act normal, smile when you see him and don't feel guilty or something. He's doing this for you."

Oh god, I was giving her advice about romance? That should've been Ino but she said that she had another interrogation thing to do, so she left this for me. Mistake...

"Oh and don't get caught by Neji." I added. "I had difficulty trying to stop him trying to punch Naruto."

"A-alright… Speaking of him-" Hinata seemed like she was going to say more but she stopped mid-sentence and bowed to someone behind me. "Hello, nii-san."

I turned around to see an annoyed Neji. "What is it?" I asked, angry because of his interruption.

"If you haven't heard, the bell rang and the class is about to begin. Ino told me to find you."

What was Ino thinking?

Neji ran his hand through his hair. Wow, he really had gorgeous hair. Not that it was better than mine. Hn.

"Let's just go, okay?" I dragged them behind, irritated.

-x-

Biology and History were boring like usual but P.E. was fun. We divided into two men groups. Sasuke and I were a group. We were playing a volleyball game like beach volleyball, but of course, without sand. And as for the game… we kicked ass. Sasuke was better than me, I have to admit. His spikes were so fast and powerful that I couldn't even see where the ball landed.

After school, Sasuke accompanied me until the gates. Then I realized that it was raining outside.

Oh… great.

I had to wait for Neji anyway. Naturally, we were going back to home together. So Sasuke went, and I started waiting.

Then I heard footsteps. I turned around to see Neji and two girls swooning over him.

"Neji-kun, come to the dance with me."

"No, with me!"

"Get off," Neji mumbled, a hint of danger in his voice.

"Aww, you're too rude." Then the wavy haired girl saw me. "You're choosing her over us?" she asked unbelievingly. "That's it! You're cute but you don't worth it. What a horrible taste…" The girls walked away as Neji came near.

"Having trouble?" I snickered.

"How did you know?" Neji pretended to be impressed.

"Because unlike you, I'm a genius."

He rolled his eyes. "Let's go genius. It looks like the rain will get heavier."

"Alright! But before that, what was that dance those girls were talking about?"

"School is throwing a New Year dance party at, well, New Year's Day."

"Oh? This school is pretty active when it comes to dances or festivals."

"Tell me about it." I giggled at his bored expression.

We walked into the rain. I personally didn't care if I didn't have an umbrella with me. I was skipping under the rain, stepping on the puddles. I didn't care if my clothes were wet. Like a five year old, I was playing under the rain and boy, it _did_ feel good.

"Come on, play with me!" I pulled Neji by his hand. He didn't move though.

"We'll get cold."

"We'll get cold either way. So stop being a grandpa and come on!"

"But-" I didn't listen to his protests and splashed water on him by jumping on a puddle. He looked at his completely soaked shoes, then he did the same to me.

It was actually funny how I managed to get him to do things like these. The cake war, those childish arguments, now this… I'm not a psychologist, but it wasn't hard to see that he was always restricted. Always forbidden… he didn't play hide&seek in kindergarten, he had never done the things he did with me. And now, watching him under the rain, seeing his attempts to splash water on me… it was a happy sight.

He wasn't smiling, nor he was grinning; he had a somewhat angry face. But I knew that it was a façade, a mask to cover his real feelings. He was having fun as much as I was.

"Okay, I surrender!" I yelled, raising my hands. Finally, he grinned. "So I won."

"So it seems." I grinned back. Then I grabbed his hand enthusiastically, dragging him behind. "Now, why don't we try something more challenging?"

He gave me a confused look. "Like?"

"Dance," I smirked. I opened my phone and turned the volume on. There weren't many people around. Those who were on the street were running away from the rain and making a rush to their houses. Except us, of course.

I put the phone on a low wall. To prevent the rain falling on it, I made a little tent-like thing with my books.

"The phone is on shuffle. We have to dance whichever song plays. The better dancer will win."

He smirked slightly and I knew it meant "you're on". I giggled and tapped the play button.

Oh, that was a song that I knew too well. _Sorry Sorry_ from _Super Junior._ I perfectly knew the moves.

"You can't beat me in this," I told him and started to dance.

_Three songs later…_

I was panting while Neji didn't seem to be tired. The rain was lighter now.

"This isn't working," he said. "We don't have a jury or something like that to determine who is better. It's always a draw this way."

I tapped my chin, pondering. He was right. Then I had an idea. It was a little bit crazy, but I'm not known for my sanity.

I picked up my phone and plugged my earbuds. I gave one of them to Neji.

"The one who drops the earbud will lose." I explained the rule. Neji looked at me.

"But that's close to impossible."

"That's the fun part!" I chirped eagerly.

_Three more songs later…_

"But how can this be?" I protested. "You can't win against me!" Neji had won twice while I won only once. "That's unfair!"

He chuckled lowly "You asked for it."

I put on a sour face as we waited for the new song.

We both froze on our spots when we heard the next song. It was… a slow one? Since when did I have slow songs in my cellphone? We both knew this song. _A Necessary End_ from _Saltillo._ But it was different. It was much slower, and it was only violin and piano. No techno parts, no talking (the original song has Shakespeare parts in it).

I looked at Neji to ask what to do. Obviously, we couldn't dance in this song and it was impossible to drop the earbud, thus no winner. But when I looked at his eyes, our eyes got locked and I forgot about everything else.

"You know," he said in a very low voice as he stepped closer. "It'll be hard to drop the earbuds in a song like this."

I was still locked in his lavender eyes. There was a very different light in them. I wanted to know what he was feeling.

The I realized that he was offering his hand to me, kneeling slightly.

"May I have this dance?" I gasped as he smirked like he knew something that I didn't.

Nonetheless, I put my hand in his and the other hand on his shoulder. I felt strange when he put his hand on my waist.

We were probably looking weird, dancing with earbuds on one ear in the street. Thankfully, no one was around.

We were staying away from each other as much as we could. It was still raining and I was starting to feel cold. Not that I was feeling regret._ Not when I was in his arms…_

I shivered slightly.

"You're shivering." Neji commented. Ah, I told you that he's a genius!

"Maybe."

"It's cold." he remarked.

"Nice observation, Einstein."

"We have to go."

I sighed. "You're trying to disqualify me, huh? Well, I'm not buying it."

He let out a frustrated sigh. But I wasn't expecting for him to hold me tighter and get close. He _actually_ did that. I looked up to see his face. Big mistake.

He was even more handsome under the rain. I was realizing this only now. I was feeling like I had lost my ability to talk.

I was ecstatic. Not even realizing what I was doing, I leaned my head on his shoulder. He stiffened but didn't push me.

I honestly didn't want this moment to end. When the song was over I started the song again.

And we stayed there for minutes, hours maybe days…

**Okay I personally don't like this chapter so much, because there's a lot of mistakes in it, not so long, and everything happens so fast. But being without a computer for a long while wasn't really helpful. I wrote on paper, but I can't see my mistakes properly on paper. Also, there won't be updates for a while, but I'll write, maybe have the story finished until end of the summer then submit them fast. Anyway...**

**The last scene was totally insipred from the Pianist - no, not that famous one. The Korean drama that Choi Minho was the main character. You should watch that if you like Korean dramas, though that was the first Korean drama I've ever watched :D But it was cute, Minho is not the best actor out there, but I'd say he's pretty good. ^_^**

**Also, since I won't be here for a while, I'd like to thank my reviewers, you always make me want to go on. I read your reviews on my mobile phone. I'd like to thank especially:**

**DarkAnonymous324,**

**Love Is Only A Word,**

**StormWolf77,**

**Lizard Lover,**

**Metal-Blondie**

**bright-rebellious,**

**Tenten-Kunai,**

**and SasoriSweet19. You guys have always made me want to write, I love you so much! **

**And the others that I didn't have the time to list: thank you so much!**

**I have to go now. See you later!**


	14. The Aftermath

**Guys! I'M SO SORRY! I have made you wait for... I don't even know how long it's been since I've updated! I'm sorry, please forgive me but good news! I'm back, finally. Anyway, more info (or rather, ranting) after the chappie, so enjoy this little one!**

"Whaaaat? You what?"

"Sakura, calm the hell down!" I tried to calm her. "It wasn't that much of a big deal anyway."

"Are you freaking kidding with me?" Sakura screeched. "It was important!"

"Well," I said, looking at my hands. "I guess it was a big deal for me, not him."

Yes, I actually thought so. I mean, I really didn't believe that he meant what he did. He was probably just caught up in the moment and played along. I couldn't imagine us like-

"Tenten, are you an idiot?" Sakura questioned from the other end of the phone. "If it didn't mean anything, why would he 'hold you tighter' eh?"

"Oh god, please don't say it like that! It's embarrassing." I said, my cheeks a light shade of pink. "And that's what I don't understand too. Why would he do that?"

Sakura sighed, obviously a little annoyed. Well, I can't help if I'm a little slow on these things. "Honey, isn't it obvious? He must like you! I've never heard Neji doing something like this before. There's definitely some chemistry between you guys. Ino, me and even the lil'Hinata realized this!"

Pause. "Really?" I could almost see Sakura facepalming.

"Yes."

"Oh," I managed to mumble. Inwardly, I was feeling pretty happy. I wanted sing a song to Sakura but it would annoy the hell outta her, so I didn't.

"Alrighty, little oblivious miss," she said. "Go to sleep now, it's almost 2 a.m.!"

I checked my watch even though I knew she was right. "Holy shit, just for how long we've been talking?"

"Over three hours," she yawned. "We're doomed, thanks to you."

Once again, she was right. Tomorrow we had school at eight, and I had to sleep immediately. "Daamn, good night Sakura!"

"Nighty, Tennie.l

"You meant Mighty Tennie."

"Tenten!"

"Alright alright! Good night. Wow, that rhymed too!"

This time Sakura hung up on my face.

-x-

Of course I could barely sleep. A lot of thoughts were making my mind busy. Did I really like Neji? Well, yes. I had to admit that. Did he like me back? According to Sakura, yes. Then what happened yesterday...or today, I couldn't follow anymore... What did it mean for us? Nothing? Something? How should I act around him? Oh man, these thoughts were keeping me absolutely awake.

"What should I dooo?" I whined to myself, burying myself into the blankets, forcing myself to sleep.

Just when it seemed like five minutes had passed, I heard the doorbell.

"Wha-?"

Getting out of the bed sloppily, I went to check the door to see who decided to visit me at this ungodly hour. Well, guess who!

"Neji..." I mumbled, trying to look my best even though I knew my hair was a mess, sleepiness was dripping out of my eyes, and every part of me screamed sleep. It didn't help that my pajamas were covered in duck pictures.

Neji eyed me for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "Were you sleeping? We have to go to school, did you forget? Now go and change, I won't wait for more than 5 minutes."

"Understood, sir!" I said, then rushed inside. I was happy because our relationship remained the same, it seemed. But I was a little disappointed on the inside, but I would never accept that.

Wait, what time was it? I checked my watch. We had fifteen minutes? Oh we were gonna be late!

I changed quickly and immediately went to the door, where Neji was waiting for me.

"Took you long enough," he commented.

"Sorry," I apologized. "Let's go."

The walk from home to school was awkward and almost painful. Well, I was wrong when I said our relationship remained the same. I've never felt this lame while walking to school. I mean it.

My heart literally skipped a beat when we passed from the corner that we had danced yesterday. I could still see the mud puddle that I stepped on in order to splash on Neji. I fought down a blush that threatened to cover my cheeks.

"Sooo," I said, just to talk. "You said something about a dance yesterday." Oh damn, I wasn't supposed to talk about yesterday! "So who are you going with?"

Fuck, that really wasn't the question I wanted to ask.

I swear I saw him smirk. "No one in particular. It's been cancelled."

"A-ah, I see. That's nice because ya know, I hate dances, they are boring and I really can't dance!" I talked fast, but then realized I was ranting. Worse yet, I said I couldn't dance while yesterday we had a mini dance competition. Oh man...

Now his smirk was obvious and it was annoying the hell out of me while making my knees go weak. So I punched his arm. "Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?" he asked innocently raising his hands. Cute...

Oh my god, I'm so screwed.

"That... Never mind." I shrugged it off. I knew from experience that arguing with him would take me nowhere. "Why did they cancel it anyway?" I asked, trying to change the subject. Not a very good try, but you had to start somewhere.

"The council president forfeited from her job, and she was the only one organizing things like these. So no one's doing anything. Why do you ask?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.

Well, because I really wanted to dance with you once more.

"Well, because I really don't like proms and dances."

"I see," he said. Oh, did he buy it? Sweet! "Hurry up a little," he added.

"Comin'!"

-x-

I sighed. Here's what I get for trusting Sakura. An angered and excited Ino, along with a happy and curious Hinata, who were interrogating me at the school garden. Sakura sent me an apologetic look and I replied with a glare. She then shrugged it off, as if telling me it wasn't that much of a big deal.

"Sooo, do you really like him?" Ino asked suspiciously.

"I'm...not so sure." I replied, blushing a little.

"So you like him." Ino said, eyes wide.

"She does," Hinata smiled. "Just look at her face and how she's blushing. And I saw how you look at Nii-san. Trust me, I'm familiar with that look."

I sighed angrily. "Okay, maybe I do. Happy?"

"Very," Ino said with a smirk. "D'aww, our lil' Tennie has grown up! We raised her well, didn't we girls?"

"Absolutely," Sakura smirked. And Hinata grinned widely.

I rolled my eyes in response.

Rest of the day was pretty dull. I tried to avoid Neji as best as I could, and I was successful. Until...

"Neji and Tenten, you'll be partners for this homework, since you live close to each other." the teacher said with a serious face. If she wasn't so serious, I would've thought she was mocking me. But now, I think the universe is mocking me.

I glanced at Neji from the corner of my eye and caught him looking at me too. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Did he want to be partners with me? Was he reluctant to do this? I hoped he wasn't because I was happy with this. This meant I got to spend more time with Neji. And of course that was exactly what I wanted.

He turned his gaze towards the teacher. I could swear he was smirking but it was so sudden that I couldn't be sure. I smiled to myself and looked at the teacher too. She looked at a paper on the desk and then turned to us.

"Your homework will be about cultures of different countries. Is that okay?" This wasn't a verification but an order. We nodded. Teacher nodded once, then started to announce the rest of the groups.

Other periods were not so boring but difficult. The subjects were starting to get harder and harder. I had to study more if I wanted to succeed.

Yawning, I headed towards the cafeteria. It was lunch break and I was really hungry. We had promised to meet at the cafeteria so that was where I was heading.

Then I saw something really strange. Three or four men were walking towards the cafeteria. They all had long hair that reminded me of Neji's. I quickened my steps, eager to see their faces. Luckily, they stopped when they got in and looked around. So I got to take a look at their faces. Oh my god, they had the same eyes! Lavender! They really were Neji and Hinata's relatives. I should tell them...

I saw my group of friends, chatting and laughing. But I had a bad feeling. Something was wrong. Neji was the first one to see them. His eyes widened and he got up from his seat. Hinata was quick to react; she immediately turned around and saw the men. She was surprised too. The others were confused. I was too. What was going on?

"Neji-san, Hinata-sama... Come with us, please."

They obeyed without hesitation. Heading towards my direction, Neji looked up for a brief second. But he quickly averted his eyes. Then I caught Hinata's gaze. She sent me an apologetic look and I only got more confused.

Once again, I wondered inwardly: what was going on?

**Ooh-kay... This is awkward... I wanted to update this a lot sooner, but the computer just _had to_ crash and delete everything along with the new chapter. I had to write this on a BlackBerry, which was, believe me, extermely difficult but I managed. But this is REALLY short! Ugh, I thought I wrote longer! I'm sure you want to kill me after seeing this. You waited for months, (and I believe most of you stopped reading) and when I finally updated, it's a chapter this short? Dang! Curse me! But I promise the next chapter will be longer and I'll be quicker to update!**

**But believe me or not, I _will_ finish this story. As long as I don't die. ^_^ So keep reading and leave a review, because you know what? A reviewer named thecoolauthorwithstory made me write this chapter! I got so encouraged and worked up when I saw that some people still read my story. It's a miracle! As you can see, reviews are important, so review! Or take out all your anger from me. I deserve it D:**


	15. Kidnapped! Oh no!

It had been a whole week since Neji and Hinata were taken from school. I haven't seen them since then. Neji was absent from home. I had to walk to home alone. It's not that I was afraid or something. It's just that I wasn't used to walking to home all by myself. Neji was always with me at those times. And usually I went to school late because Neji wasn't there to wake me up.

I was worrying out of my mind. What could have happened? What would be so important to prevent them from coming to school? And who were those mysterious people? Sure, they were from the Hyuuga family, that much was obvious. But for what reason they came and took Hinata and Neji? I was thinking about these stuff nonstop. Were they okay? What if they needed us? I hoped at least Hinata would call us, but nothing as such happened.

The others were worried too. Sakura and Ino were dead silent, which came as a big surprise. The guys didn't seem to care much, but I knew deep inside they were wondering what could have happened.

Which brings us to Thursday, at lunch...

"Darn it, I was supposed to do homework with Neji and tomorrow is the deadline!" I remembered. Only Sakura raised her head and looked at me.

"Then tell the teacher that Neji was absent, so you couldn't do your homework." she said calmly.

"Yes, but..."

But I wish he was here...

"I know," Sakura put a hand on my shoulder. "I know..."

Then she continued eating her lunch in silence.

"Guys..." I murmured at some point. "I was thinking... maybe we should pay a visit to the Hyuugas?"

Now I had everyone's attention. I knew this idea was in their minds too, but they didn't say it out loud.

"Honey, how do you plan to do this?" Kiba asked, narrowing his eyes. "Trust me, those Hyuugas are one of the most strict families around. What do you expect to do? Walk in and say, 'Hi, we were looking for Neji and Hinata. Do you know where they are?' Really? Didn't you see some serious stuff was going on?"

"Kiba..." Ino put her hand on his arm. "Calm down. It's not Tenten's fault, we are all worried."

"Ah, how troublesome..." Shikamaru murmured.

"But I think she's right." Naruto cut in. "We should go look for them, it's been a week and we haven't heard anything. I miss them too..."

I almost smiled at Naruto's sadness. If Hinata saw this, she would cry - or rather, faint - of happiness. Naruto really cared for her.

"So, what are we doing? Go to Hyuuga residence after school?" I asked.

"Screw that, why don't we go right now?" Naruto grinned widely. "Honestly, I can't wait until school is over. Let's go now."

"You mean, sneak ou-"

"That's a great idea!" I gave a thumbs up, cutting Sakura's speech. "Let's go!"

"Well, it's nice to see you're all worked up now but how do you think you'll manage to escape?" Sasuke asked. "Security is pretty tight here."

"That's true," Kiba mumbled, pondering.

"That's why..." Sasuke was grinning now. "You'll have to use my help."

Oh, this was going to be interesting...

-x-

We were in front of the school gates, waiting. I wasn't sure what we were waiting for, but it seemed Sasuke knew.

"Hey, what are we doing here?" Naruto asked, voicing out everyone's thoughts.

"Relax, he should be here in a minute." Sasuke reassured.

Like he said, within a minute a young man appeared on the other side of the gates. He had long hair, but not like Neji's. More like a long version of Sasuke's spiky hair. I assumed he was in his early twenties. He resembled Sasuke. I figured who he was in a second.

"Wait, is he your-?"

"Guys, this is my brother, Itachi." Sasuke introduced him, interrupting me. "He'll help us escape."

Itachi just nodded at us, then walked straight into the school. I'm sure at that moment, all of us had question marks on our faces. Sasuke smirked but didn't say anything.

"Um, what is he gonna do?" Sakura finally asked.

"Just wait," Sasuke said. "He'll come in a few minutes."

And he did! After five minutes or so, that young man named Itachi reappeared. He calmly walked towards us, then spoke:

"You can go now, I took care of it." He had a deep and calm voice but it seemed somewhat dangerous.

"What does he mean he took care of it?" I whispered to Sakura.

"I have absolutely no idea..." she whispered back.

Then Itachi put his hands in his pockets and walked away. Wow... that was... weird.

"Um, so…" I spoke slowly. "Can we go now?"

"I guess?"

-x-

It was pretty easy to find the Hyuuga mansion since it's very big. Sakura knew the house because she's been there to give Hinata to give her some homework stuff. I don't know how I should describe hugeness of the building, but it was VERY BIG. Yes, I wrote that in capital letters because it WAS BIG. I wish I lived in a house like that.

Anyway, we stood in front of the big mansion. I had the urge to break the gates and find Neji and Hinata. But there were guards so it was kinda impossible. We all looked at each other to figure out what we were going to do next. We were pretty much at a loss. But then Naruto stepped front and walked towards the lavender-eyed guards. He stared at them, challenging. Uh-oh...

"Oi! We want to talk with our friends. Let us in!" Even the guard was surprised by this as if he had never encountered with someone like him before.

"N-Naruto..." Sakura mumbled, panicked. He tried to pull him back, but he refused.

"I'm talking to you, dude!" he yelled. "They haven't been to school for a whole week! What the hell happened to them?"

"Naruto, shut the hell up." Sasuke cut his rant. "You're making the situation worse than it already is."

Naruto finally turned around to face us. "If we don't do anything, we came here for nothing!" I was pretty surprised by his face. He wasn't wearing that goofy expression that I was used to see. He wasn't angry either. More like, he was serious. He was worried for Hinata as much as I was worried for Neji. I smiled a little, Hinata was going to faint of happiness, really.

"We know, Naruto." I tried to calm him down even though I felt the same. "But we won't get anywhere if don't be polite."

"Ah-hem..." Ino cut in. But she didn't talk with us, instead she turned to the guards, who were silent all the time. "I apologize for my friend, he is a _little_ bit stupid -Hey!-. So we wanted to ask, can we talk with Neji or Hinata? They are our friends and they haven't come to school since last week, so we're worried. Can you help us?"

The guards seemed to have their guards down at this (heh did you see what I did there?). Ino was sure a good speaker. Guards glanced at each other, nodding and one of them left into the house.

"Just wait here." the remaining one said.

After waiting for about ten minutes, the other one came, with a stiff expression. "I apologize, Hinata-sama and Neji-san's friends. But I'm afraid our leader doesn't allow you to come in."

"What?" Sakura exclaimed. "Why the hell not?"

"Be careful with your language, little miss." he said. "There is a reason for this. I must say sorry."

"But why?" I asked. "Something bad happened? We won't do anything, just let us see our friends."

"That I can not do. I must ask you to leave."

I heard Naruto curse under his breath. I felt like cursing too, but I tried to be more reasonable. Well, no...

"Get outta my way!" I started running past the guards. It was a lot easier than I expected. But on the other hand, appearently Naruto was thinking the same thing because I heard someone exclaim "DATTEBAYO!" and dash past me. Wow... He then turned around to see me and gave me a wink. I laughed and followed him as the guards were panicking and chasing us.

Our friends cheered outside because they didn't make it past the guards. Meanwhile Naruto and I rushed inside the big house, barging the door open. I took a moment to observe my surroundings.

The hall was illuminated with lights. It was making me dizzy. The ceiling was so high that an Harry Potter troll would easily fit here. There was a big round red table in the middle and many people were sitting there, talking. The curtains were red too, it matched with the white walls. But there was something that caught my eye specifically. A beautiful, purple haired, lavender-eyed girl, sitting at the head of the table elegantly; and a handsome, brown haired, lavender-eyed boy, sitting right beside the girl, his teeth clenched, jaw firm. My eyes widened. Naruto and I exchanged looks then looked back at them.

Everyone was staring at us, who had burst into the hall without permission. Their expressions ranged from stern to shocked, but only one of them concerned me.

"Neji..."

"Hinata..."

Naruto and I whispered at the same time, earning more shocked faces. Not that we cared. I stepped backwards and Neji stood up. I couldn't dechipher his expression. He looked angry, tired and suffocated. I wanted to save him. Whatever was bothering him like this, I wanted to stop it. He shouldn't suffer. It wasn't right.

While thinking these, Neji looked up and we made an eye contact. My stomach made a flip flop. My heart was thumping so loud that I thought everyone in the room heard.

But then he turned around and faced the elders of the family, bowing a little.

"May I excuse myself for a few minutes? There seems…" he looked at me briefly. "…to be an interference. I'll handle it quickly."

I felt my heart sank. Interference..?

"I'll come with you." Hinata stood up.

"But Hinata-sama-" some elder tried to stop her. Hinata raised her hand.

"It concerns me too. I must go with Nii-san."

She was speaking in such a elegant tone and was moving around so gracefully that I almost couldn't recognize her. It wasn't the Hinata I knew. She had changed in just a week. I took a look at Naruto, and he was speechless like me.

"Follow me," Neji ordered. His cold tone made me cringe but I followed him.

We got out of the hall and started to climb some stairs. It was so long and wide. I felt tired when we finally finished climbing and got into a room.

"The others are here, aren't they?" Neji inquired, even though he knew the answer. But then I just couldn't take being quiet anymore.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU THE WHOLE WEEK?"

Though neither Neji nor Hinata seemed to be mind my shouts. Naruto seemed to think otherwise.

"We were worried sick about you!" he half yelled, he was trying to restrain himself because obviously, he couldn't yell at Hinata.

Sighing, Hinata and Neji shared glances. This wasn't right. Something was odd. I was feeling the same thing I felt a week ago, when those guys came to take them. Halfheartedly, Neji turned to us, and bore her eyes into ours.

"Last week, we got some news from the Hyuuga mansion. News of Hiashi Hyuuga, Hinata's father and the leader of the Hyuuga clan had passed away due to cancer."

**Oh shiz, such a cliffhanger! Lol sorry guys, but be thankful, I uploaded when I had (still have actually) an effin exam MONTH. So don't be mad. And how was this? Didn't meet your expectations, right? Don't worry my friends, next chapter is going to be intense!**

**I started hip-hop dancing, it's so cool! I love dancing! And I'm actually updating on the first day of the year! Oh my GOD! It's an honor! T_T **

**Last night, I had sooo much fun, celebrating the new year. I learned the hard way that a drunk 70 year old granpa's mind works like a sleepless 10 years old's mind lol. Those are my grandpa and my cousin, yes. It was fun and I had a lot of gifts, so I'm happy.**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY! It's been a year, huh? A year and three months i think, and I'm still on chapter 15. Pitiful :( This makes a chapter per month...**

**...**

**Gosh, I'm sorry.**

**Anyway, see you later and I hope you will have a great 2012! (If we don't die, according to mayans lol!)**


	16. Without You

I couldn't even say "What?" or something like that. My brain was frozen, I couldn't comprehend the words properly. Although I didn't know the guy, this wasn't something I was expecting.

There was a very awkward silence until I coughed and said, "I'm… sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," Neji replied, looking at me with an emotion I couldn't dechipher.

"I'm sorry too," Naruto said quietly. Obviously he didn't know how to deal with situations like these. "But I still don't understand," he then said bluntly. "Was this the only reason you weren't coming to the school?"

Neji and Hinata exchanged glances then Hinata sighed. I couldn't tell whether it was amazing or scary to see the little shy Hinata so mature. But underneath that calm mask, I could see Hinata was very sad and under pressure.

"With my father passed away, now I'm supposed to take his place."

My eyes widened with realization. "You don't mean…"

"She'll be the new clan leader." Neji explained for us.

It was like a bomb that was dropped right in front of us. A clan leader, at the age of 16! That was beyond our imagination.

I looked at Naruto from the corner of my eye. He was so shocked that he couldn't say a word. I also caught Hinata's glance at Naruto. She was worried and she had missed him. Hinata felt me looking at her, and turned her eyes towards me. I quickly averted my eyes. I didn't know how to behave in front of Hinata now. She had… _changed._

_What is going to happen now?_ I thought sadly.

Neji, who always seemed to know what I was thinking, answered my inner question, "Now that she has to be the leader, she needs to stay at home and learn what to do as the head of the clan. This will take about a month, or so the elders say."

_And… what about you?_ I thought again, in hopes of him hearing it.

"And I am being trained as her personal bodyguard and assistant." He said. That moment I raised my eyes and our eyes met. Even though he was still looking at me with that undechipherable expression, I saw his unhappiness, and uneasiness.

"I see…" was my only response.

"Do you have any questions?" Hinata asked kindly. "If not, I will have to excuse myself. We were in the middle of a discussion."

I was kinda shocked to see everyone was over Hiashi's death by now. I mean, yes, it's been a week but he was Hinata's father and Neji's uncle. They talked about him as if he never even existed. Though I don't know what they really were feeling -

"Do you have to do this?"

Naruto's question pierced through my thoughts. He had a serious expression on his face. And for the first time that day, Hinata's disguise was shattered and she revealed her real feelings. It was pure sadness.

"N-Naruto-kun…" she murmured with tears in her eyes. "I… I'm…!" Without completeing her sentence, she ran out of the room dramatically. Naruto was panicked now.

"Hinata!" he yelled before running after her.

Oh great, now it's Neji and I…

He'll probably be cold to me. Or he'll go too, leaving me here. Or maybe he'll talk to me, but not sincerely…

Okay, I'm overthinking this. Just talk to the guy like you always do…

All of a sudden, Neji wore a very exhaused expression. Like he could break apart any minute.

"N-Neji?"

"I don't want to do this, Tenten." He confessed suddenly. He looked at me with tired eyes. "Even though my uncle and I couldn't get along very well, I _want_ to feel sorry that he passed away. But I can't… The elders are rushing everything so I don't have time for anything other than sleeping and eating. I'm… really tired."

He sat down on the closest chair and buried his face in his hands. I was all but too surprised to see him break down like this. I didn't know what to do to comfort him. But before I could even say a word, he looked up at me and said, "You aren't involved in this matter. You should go," with his emotionless voice. Even though it broke my heart, I couldn't just leave him there.

"Neji… if you want my help, just say so. Don't try to put on a mask and ignore the ones could help you. I don't know how tough the situation is, but you should've known that I'd be there to comfort you. That is the least I can do." I said, looking him in the eye.

He seemed to be softened up but not too much. "You don't get it. I barely have the time to do _anything, _including going to school. This will continue for a while, and it's not for certain that I can come back to the school."

"What..?"

Now my heart broke into pieces. Neji wasn't going to come back? But… But it wasn't fair! It is illegal, not coming to school, right? He could not not come, right?

"I have to go now, Tenten," he got up. "You need to go too."

"I… I see," I felt like crying. What if it was my last time seeing Neji? That would be unbearable. I would miss him. But I didn't want to be selfish. He could deal with his own problems. All I could do was to watch him and comfort him if he needs.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked a little expectantly. I wanted to do something for him.

"No, nothing," he answered. He started to walk away, towards the door. But then he stopped and turned around to look at me.

"I will try… Try to come back to school," he said, smiling slightly. It was a forced smile nevertheless it was beautiful. I fought with the urge to hug him. I lost.

Suddenly I found myself running and hugging him, without even realizing what I did. I threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder. It only lasted a second though, before I came back to my mind and pushed myself aside.

Cue awkward silence…

I fake-coughed to break the silence. "Um, so… See you later, I guess?"

…

Too awkward?

He then did something that surprised me a lot. He smiled genuinely for a mere second before turning it into a mischevious smirk. "Did something hit you in the head on your way here?"

Then I watched him with my mouth open as he walked out like nothing happened.

"Ya! You..! Grr… Neji Hyuuga! What the hell does that supposed to mean?"

"Um, madam?"

I jumped a little. Then I saw the Hyuuga servant, waiting at the door. "Um, there will be a meeting soon, you need to leave. I'm sorry for my rudeness."

"Yeah, whatever." I replied, not really caring. That jerk of a Hyuuga made me confused again. Yet, I was feeling happy deep inside.

-x-

A day passed after our break in to the Hyuuga mansion. I was in Geometry class and as usual, I was zoning out. I didn't notice the teacher standing right in front of me until he said my name repeatedly.

"Huh?" I looked around, confused. The teacher was not amused.

"Tenten, this is the sixth time you've been zoning out this week!"

_Wow, was he counting? Doesn't he have a better job to do?_

"If this continues I have to give you a detention."

_What a great way to make your students listen to your boring lectures._

"I'm sorry, teacher. Won't happen again."

He looked suspicious but he nodded and walked away to make more people fall asleep.

I turned my gaze towards my notebook, not paying attention to the teacher. To look like I was taking notes, I started to randomly sketch things. A bunny, a dragon, Phoenix Wright, Tifa Lockheart etc. I was pretty content with my Phoenix drawing but when I saw Tifa didn't come out so well, I pouted.

"_Ahh-hem…"_

I flinched. _Oh damn…_

"Give me that paper, Tenten-san."

I reluctantly gave him the notebook. Well, I admit I kind of asked for it.

"Detention, Tenten-san. Today, come to my office after school."

"Got it, got it…"

Then he looked at the paper once more, before he ripped it into pieces.

"Nooooo-!" I was about to yell but his stare shut me up. _He ripped Phoenix Wright!_

-x-

_What a boring day… _I thought while cleaning the girls' dressing room of the gym by myself. Yeah, that was my detention. How original, right?

I put the broom away and sat down, wiping the sweat off of my forehead. It was creepy without anyone around. I guess I was a little… afraid. Lights were on in the dressing room but I could see the gym from the window and it was really dark. And you already know I'm not very fond of darkness.

So I decided to listen to some music to relax myself. I put my mp3 player on shuffle and the first song was Into The Night from Santana feat Chad Kroeger. This song always made me feel energetic.

_Like a gift from the heavens  
It was easy to tell  
It was love from above  
That could save me from hell_

Singing along, I continued cleaning and after a short while, the dressing room was squeaky clean.

"Ahh, I'm so good! Now that it's finished, I guess I can leave now."

I glanced out of the window once more, with Bon Jovi's You Give Love A Bad Name blaring through my headphones. I shuddered when I thought I saw a shadow. Who was there? Did I see it wrong? Now I was afraid.

I opened the door and peeked out to see if anyone was there. Nope, not a single trace of a soul.I was still worried so I put on a happy music to calm myself down.

Love Girl by C.N Blue. Perfect.

As the cheerful melody started to play, I stepped forward, leaving the dressing room. I took one more step and one more and one more… I guess I worried over nothing, just my imagination that goes wild when I'm in dark.

Finally relaxed, I started to walk in sync with the upbeat song when suddenly someone crashed into me.

"AAAAH-!"

Suddenly I found myself on the damn floor, scared like hell. Out of blue, a hand covered my mouth. Now I was more scared and started to struggle until my kidnapper said, "Shh, Tenten. It's me, Ino."

My eyes widened as the silence ensued and I could feel my own intense heartbeat pumping in my ears.

She slowly released her hand and turned towards me. It really was Ino!

"Fuck you, Ino!" I whisper-yelled. "Fuck you and your weirdness! What the hell were you thinking? I was so fucking scared!"

"Wow, Tenten gets a lousy mouth when she's afraid." Ino smirked cheerfully. I stared at her angrily but she didn't stop. "I guess when Neji isn't around you get all tense. How adorable." Now I was gonna punch her in the face…

"You little-"

"Now, don't waste my time, I'm going for the big scoop!" she shushed me and tip-toed towards boys' dressing room.

"…a scoop?"

"An article for the newspaper."

"…a newspaper?"

Ino turned to me with her hands on her hips. "You _do_ know that I'm a reporter in the school paper, right?"

"Umm… no?"

She sighed, frustrated. "How else do you think you could be on the stage at November Fest? One must have _connections_ do to something like that. Geez, you're so naive."

Then she silenced me once more, her eyes looking towards the boys' dressing room. What was the big deal? I couldn't fight with my curiousity and pointed my gaze towards the door. Nothing seemed interesting though…

"Hmph…" Ino seemed angry. "There is no way my source lied, is there?"

"What was supposed to be there?" I asked, curious.

"Shh…" she put her finger on her lips.

"You're the one who talked first!" I objected.

Ino took a few more steps, and put her ear on the door, listening inside.

"Nope, nothing." She seemed enraged now. "How could this be? Impossible!"

"What was supposed to happen?" I asked once more, getting more and more curious.

Ino sighed, running her hand through her hair. "I was going to catch a nice gossip material. Ugh, I can't believe it."

I decided to wait until her frustration was gone. She'd spill it sooner or later anyway.

She calmed down faster than I expected. "Cain and Haru was supposedly be fighting over some girl," she explained. "You probably don't know that Haru is one of the most popular guys amongst tenth graders."

"So he's a year younger, right?"

"Yeah, but even senior girls seems to like him even though they're two years older. He has that kind of charm."

I then remembered something. "Hey… isn't Cain-?"

"Kiba's rival, yeah," she cut in. "But he's not his only rival. Cain is a pretty troublesome guy."

"Yeah, figures."

"Well, I guess we should go now. It's getting late."

"Alright."

-x-

I was laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. How boring... Although I didn't want to admit, it was really boring without Neji. I needed someone to annoy. He was the perfect one to annoy. I could get the exact reactions I wanted.

Absentmindedly, I was flipping my phone in my hands. Then I opened it, scrolled through the names and came to 'N'. It had been a while since I changed his name from "FancyHair" to plain "Neji". I glared at his name like it was really Neji for a good five minutes, before closing the phone. I sat up, rested my chin on my hands and my elbows on my knees. The more I thought, the more I became flustered and frustrated at the same time.

"Aaah!" I screamed, throwing myself on the bed once more, flailing my arms and legs around furiously. "Damn you, Neji Hyuuga!"

But my tantrum ended quickly when I remembered his exhausted and unhappy face when we were talking in his house. Now I was feeling sad. I don't think I've ever seen him broken like that.

I flipped open the phone once more and found Neji among my contacts. I stared at his name for a while again. I was debating over whether to call him or not. What if he needed me? Okay, not necessarily me, since I'm nothing important to him (I mean, like a girlfriend). But he might've needed someone to talk. He wasn't dealing with an easy thing. He would definately need someone.

"Oh, come on Tenten!" I reasoned with myself. "Be honest! It's _you_ who wants to talk to him! You're just making up excuses. If he needs you, he'll call. Now put that phone away and sleep! You have school tomorrow and it's 11 pm. "

After my psychology session with myself was over, I put the phone on the counter and got into my bed. Before drifting off to sleep, I wondered how much longer I wasn't going to see him.

**Alrighty! How d'ya like it? It's long! And it was pretty fun to write.**

**So, I was in a holiday and we went to skiing! Yeah! :D Well, I wish I was skilled though ^^; But we had lots of fun! Even though the hotel was EXTREMELY bad. I mean, radiators weren't working and we didn't have any water for a whole day and a half! Which sucked pretty badly.**

**I might not be able to update for a while but who knows, maybe I'll write! I want to finish this story as fast as I can so I can start writing other ones. I have some ideas in my mind and I can't wait to write them.**

**Well then, until next time... Ciao!**


	17. Homework

I was resting my foot on the wall while laying on the bed with my head hung down from the side of the bed. At 6.00 in the freaking morning, nonetheless.

_I must've gone crazy._

I was checking my phone again again, as if Neji would send a message any time soon. It wasn't like he said he'd text me or something, what was I getting so worked up for?

But I couldn't help it, I had a feeling that something important would happen today. It had been two days since Ino tackled me at the gym. Nothing in particular happened in these two days. Only I decided to fake-listen to classes, especially Geometry so I didn't get caught (Exams were gonna kill me but I couldn't care less). I threw the cellphone on the bed, sighing as I got up. Thinking I should get ready for school, I grabbed my uniform and changed. There was still two hours until school started, so I decided to sleep a bit more since I could barely sleep that night. I fell asleep in my uniform.

Around 7.30 I woke up.

_Another day in school._ I thought unhappily. God knew how boring it was gonna be. I checked my phone once more to see if anyone tried to contact me (aka Neji) but no such luck. I had a strange feeling in my gut and I felt like I needed to talk to Neji. But I wasn't sure why. The only thing I knew for sure was this was about a serious situation, not some teenager romance angst. Once more I scrolled to 'N' and found Neji. Now I was debating over whether to call him or not.

"Eh, screw this, I'm not calling. I'm being stupid."

With that, I slipped my phone in my pocket, grabbed my bag and rushed out of the house.

-x-

I was walking in the corridors to get to Biology when I crashed into someone. When I looked up, I saw a very bright yellow hair (which I'm sure was black once). I was so distracted by the hair that I didn't see the short girl's face at first. It was just… so shiny. Finally I got to take a peek at her face. The girl stared at me with a raised eyebrow. Her attitude was very annoying. It seemed like she thought of herself very highly. In other words, she was your classic high school alpha bitch.

"Watch where you're going, buns."

"Well, you should be careful too." I replied sweetly. "Someone might accidentally step on you."

Her mouth was half open. "Excuse me?"

"Just get out of the way, shortie." I replied, walking past her. You know that I'm not usually this rude, but with recent events and with this girl's cocky attitude, I just couldn't hold back.

"You…"

"Yeah, yeah. Save your breath."

Right then I could almost hear her smirking. "Oh, now I remember," she said arrogantly. "You're that Hyuuga sucker, right? You always follow him around everywhere. It's weird that he actually lets you around him. I guess he is fed up with your stupidness and doesn't really care. Hmph. What a pity. He could've been with someone a lot better now."

Unfortunately, now it was my time to hang open my mouth. "What..?"

The girl shot a mischievous grin at me. "Really? You're going to pretend you're not a fangirl? Your only advantage is that you live close to him. Nothing more," she remarked, flipping her blonde hair smugly.

She was really getting on my nerves now. I tried to calm myself and finally grinned. "You look like you have done a lot of research about me, eh? Shame… Didn't you have anything better to do? And you call me a sucker? Really…" Then, I decided to push my luck and tick her off. "And just now," I continued. "You implied that I might have a shot with Neji. Maybe I shouldn't give up hope just yet, huh? Thanks for that."

She looked confused for a second, then her eyes got wide. "You d-don't mean you actually like-?" she stuttered.

"I think this is the end of our lovely conversation. See you around, midget!" I waved as I walked away. I laughed to myself. Way to go, Tenten! Ha! Show her who's the boss now!

I was grinning from ear to ear when I entered the classroom. Sakura saw me and seemed suspicious.

"What is making you so happy?"

I told her what happened.

"Hmm," she pondered. "I wonder who you're talking about. But even though I can't say for sure, the most likeliest is Ayumi."

"Well, I don't really care. I don't think she can distrub me again."

"You're right about that." Sakura grinned too.

Then the teacher came and we started the lesson. Unfortunately…

-x-

"But professor!" I protested. "He's not around, I can't even contact with him!"

But she wasn't listening. "I told you I wanted that homework by now. Yet you come with absolutely nothing?"

"What could I do?" I held my exclaim. It wouldn't help in this situation. "Neji isn't even coming to school anymore!"

"You could've prepared your part," the teacher stated, oh so knowingly.

"We hadn't discussed the parts!"

"That is not my problem."

"Please!" I begged. If I didn't give this homework about different cultures, I would fail at History. "Give me one more week! I'll prepare my part. Just one week!"

She seemed to think about it. Then she sighed.

"Fine. One week. If you can't do it by then, you'll get an F."

"Thank you for the chance, ma'am! I won't disappoint you." _I hope…_

"Good," she said and walked away. I stared at ther with distate. "Moody…"

So then I decided to stay after school to study at the library. For three years in this school, I had never stayed after school AND study. Damn homeworks…

There were only two students at the library. I knew both of them. They were nerds. No, I'm not being rude, they were nerds. I'm sure they admitted this themselves. But I wasn't about to stand there and look at them, so I started to check out the books I would need. I actually didn't know what I was doing. Like I thought countless times this week, I wished Neji could be there with me. He would know what to do and I would've get a good grade.

Then an imaginary lightbulb appeared on my head.

This was my excuse to call Neji!

I smiled at the thought of calling him but when I reached out for my phone, I hesitated. What if he was busy? What if he was in some really important meeting with those stuck up Hyuuga elders? I would be disturbing him. My face went sour. I really wanted to hear his voice.

Even so, I decided to text him. But it wasn't easy to text him either. What would I say? _Hey Neji, I'm doing our homework without you because you know, stuff happened and I need your help…_ or should I go with something like, _if you're free right now, call me._

I really wanted to do the second option. But eventually, I came up with something I thought to be better.

_Hey Neji,_

_I need to have advice from you about a homework, so when you're free can you call me? :)_

Yeah, nice enough.

I hit the send button and watched the digital envelope fly. My heart was thumping loudly. When would he see? Would he even text back?

I slapped my cheeks lightly. "Get a hold of yourself, Tenten!"

But then I realized the two students glaring at me for being loud. I stuck my tongue out to them. I could care less what they thought about me for the moment.

I waited for a good five minutes when my phone suddenly started to ring.

I jumped from my seat.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod!"

I rushed out of the library to talk freely as two nerds glared at me once more. Then I took a look at the name of the caller.

_Neji_

Oh… my… god…

I cleared my throat and put the phone on my ear with shaky hands.

"H-he-hello?"

Damn you, stutter!

"Hi Tenten," Neji said in his deep voice that I missed so much.

Now my heart was about to explode.

"So, how are you?"

Despite my over excitement and anxiousness, he sounded very calm and collected but I could very clearly hear he was pretty happy.

"A little nervous, actually," A little? Bite me… "Remember that History homework we had together?" Oh, I was speaking without stuttering now. Good, good. Still, it didn't change the fact that there were butterflies in my stomach and my heart beating so loudly that I could feel it in my ears.

"Yeah?" Neji urged me to go on with a soft voice.

I took a breath. "Well, teacher decided I do that homework alone, if I don't want to fail, but I don't even know where to start!" I whined.

There was a pause.

"So you want me to come over?" he asked, a little confused.

"Ah, no, no!" I quickly denied. I couldn't forcefully make him come here. Then I started to talk very fast with excitement. "I just want some advice. You always know what you're doing when you do something." I blushed and thanked god he didn't see me. "I mean, you're the most organised person I've ever met. So I figured you could help me. But I don't want to take you away from your duty or whatever you're doing. I guess I was a bit selfish."

I heard a deep chuckle from the other end of the phone.

"You think too much. I didn't think you were disturbing me in any way. If you were, I wouldn't call you back, right?" Before I could answer, he paused and went on. "I was getting… bored too." I got the feeling this wasn't the thing he wanted to say. "So you did good," he finished.

I smiled. "That's nice to hear."

"So, I'll be over in an hour."

"…What?"

I couldn't comprehend the words he said so I had replied with a flat what.

"I'll help you, I said." From his tone, I could easily say he was smirking.

"But… but… your clan…"

"That shouldn't matter for you now, should it?"

"Still…"

"I won't listen to your protests. Better be ready when I come."

"But I'm not at-"

_Beeeep._

When he closed the phone, I stared at the phone for a few seconds. Then my eyes went wide with realisation.

OH. MY. GOD.

I yanked the library door open, ignored the stares, quickly grabbed my stuff and sprinted off. I had to get home_ fast._

-x-

When arrived at the front door, I looked around to see if Neji was around, thank goodness he wasn't. Then I unlocked the door harshly, got in and immediately closed it.

"I can't believe I made it in time."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

It was Neji!

Before I opened the door, I took a few breaths to calm myself down. "Coming!"

And there he was, standing before me.

I couldn't help but blush.

"U-um, hi…"

"Hi," he said, smirking a little.

But when I looked at his face a bit more detailed, I could see the purple shadows under his eyes. His eyes were a bit red and he seemed pale. His shoulders were down. I could see he lost weight too. And his precious hair… it was a mess. I felt really sorry for him. He looked worse than when I saw him at his house.

"Won't you invite me in?" he asked, grinning.

"A-ah, sure, come in." I opened the door fully.

"Thanks," he grinned once more before getting in.

He threw himself on the sofa and looked at me. "So, what do we do?"

But I was worried. "Neji… are you okay?"

His smirking face faltered. "What do you mean?"

"You know what the hell I mean!" I spat suddenly. Something was definately wrong and he was trying to hide it? It was so obvious that even the dumbest person could see it. "You look horrible, Neji. I'm worried about you."

Now he got serious. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you worry or something."

"For God's sake don't apologize!" I was feeling something mixed with anger and sadness. Who made him like this? "You have done nothing wrong!"

He didn't answer this time. He sat up, put his hands on his forehead and put his elbow on his leg.

"Neji…" I murmured as I sat next to him. I put my hand on his back.

"It's so… tiring, Tenten. I don't know how should I deal with it. I don't even have a break. It was a coincidence I had free time to come here. And it was a miracle they let me go. Hinata-sama has it worse than me. Because of her leader status now, she can't even leave the house. She's about to break into pieces. I don't know what I can do for her."

"You should worry about yourself first." I mumbled.

"She's probably thinking the same way about me. Besides, I'm her bodyguard. I'm expected to overcome any situation threatening her."

"You're her bodyguard? If it's okay to ask, why?"

Neji looked at me. I couldn't explain his expression. It was unreadable.

"Hyuuga family has two houses: The main house and the branch house. The main house is, as you can understand, head of the family. People from their lineage becomes the leader and the branch house is supposed to protect them. Because the Hyuuga family is being threatened so often, if the branch house doesn't do their job, main family would be in danger."

I could see why they were being threatened. The Hyuuga Family was very rich and they probably had some secrets of their own.

"What happens if you don't protect them?" I asked slowly.

"Aside from the family falling apart, they have punishment for this," he explained. My eyes widened.

"What kind of punishment?"

"I can't tell," he clenched his teeth. "But nowadays they don't use it. So there aren't many problems about disloyalty."

"Oh…"

"You know… my dad died protecting his twin, my uncle."

I slowly put my hand on my mouth with shock. "Oh my god, Neji, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, I got over it. Still, sometimes I feel... angry. Things didn't have to turn out like this but… what can you do…"

I hesitantly took his hand yo comfort him. He looked up, and finally, his lips shaped a curve. Our faces were close but at the time I didn't realize that. I was too focused on this problems.

"Hey, Tenten?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

I half smiled and squeezed his hand. "Anytime."

"Now that we are over this therapy session, can we move on to making the homework?"

-x-

Halfway through, Neji fell asleep on the table. He was in the dreamland as soon as he put his head on the table. He must've been very tired. I smiled at his sleeping face. I threw his arm on my shoulder and tried to carry him on the sofa.

"Goodness, Neji! You might've lost weight but you're still heavier than I thought!"

In response, he took a deep breath. "Mmm… smell… good…" He held my arm unconciously. Then he slided his hand down and found my hand.

I blushed really heavily. "Um… It would be better if you didn't do that."

Even though my face was as red as a tomato, I proceeded to put him down on the sofa. But he hadn't let go of my hand yet. So… I came down with him. Now my face was only inches away from his sleeping face. I looked at his half parted lips for a second, then with an "eep" sound I jumped back.

Still shocked, I brought him a blanket quickly. When I was done I rushed out of the room, embarrassed.

**Hey guys! I could finally update! I wrote this chapter until 3 am and now, here it is! Did you like it? Neji's finally opening up! Yeah, yeah... I made you wait so long again and I apologize. Hope this little chappy made you feel better.**

**Leave a review to tell me what you think!**


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